Seraphim
by willy.hizzy
Summary: Apart from Momonga there were many others who were in Yggdrasil on the last day. This is the story of such a character. On the last day of Yggdrasil one of the key members of the Angel-Type Guild Seraphim stays behind to clean up after an ingame party. She later finds herself caught up in the most bizarre situation.
1. Chapter 1

_I only got this idea last weeks and thought I should try it out. Read and Enjoy_

* * *

 **Prologue**

Og was strong. If you asked around all who knew him would say so. Og was powerful. He could pull an oak tree out of the ground and use it as club to swing at his enemies. Og was feared. He killed the last troll who dared to challenge him with one punch. Yes, the chief of the War Trolls Og was certainly great. His short name said it all. There was no one in the world that could beat him.

Or so the War Trolls had thought.

None of them could believe what was happening in front of their eyes. Og was on his knees and bleeding profusely. His giant adamantite club lay on the ground next to him, broken and bent. Everyone present had witnessed how hard the mighty troll had fought. He had swung the club like they had never seen before. The force behind his swings was so strong it had generated a not so gentle breeze. The strong had covered their faces and the weak were blown away. Even some of their house had been damaged by the wind generated by Og.

This made it all the more shocking that the chief's opponent, a human, hardly batted an eye.

Whenever Og attacked the creature had simply raised its golden staff to parry the onslaught. It was a surreal sight. The adamantite club wielded by Og was as thick as the creature's body and twice as long yet it fended it off with hardly any effort. Usually when Og swung his club the opponent would be sent flying, whether they blocked or not. However, this creature did not budge. When it blocked it was Og who felt vibrations in his arm. Even when he had begun to swing with both hands the results didn't change.

The creature seemed to tire of this routine. When Og attacked once more it sidestepped. The adamantite club hit the ground and caused a minor tremor. Og roared and as he lifted the club. The War Trolls could see that their leader had lost his temper long ago. In that roar they could feel his desperation. Another problem had surfaced. That club would not budge.

The creature had stepped on it with so much force that the club, which was made of the strongest metal known, had bent beyond forty-five degrees. Og had not been given a chance to react because the creature suddenly attacked with its staff. That was how he had ended in this disgraceful position, kneeling in front of his enemy. It was clear to everyone who had witnessed the fight that this foe was stronger than Og. If not for the incredible regenerative skills of the troll race this fight would have been long over.

His wounds were already starting to heal and he was regaining his strength. When he got too his feet everyone who saw his eyes was taken aback by the fury in them, so much so that even the most hardened warrior in the tribe took a step back. Og was notorious for wiping out entire villages and leaving not even the infrastructure standing. This is why no one, whether from his own tribe or other tribe, dared to go against him. Everyone was scared. They had never seen their chief this furious before.

"YOU PUNY ANT!" he roared as he lifted his bent club high above his head. "OG WILL CRUSH YOU!"

He brought the club down with his full strength. But there was more to it than just a swing. At that very moment they felt the air distort around Og. Only a few knew what was happening. Og had activated a Martial Art, the mysterious power used by human warriors in from distant lands. With that Og's downward swing carried several times his full strength.

However, before the adamantite club reached its mark it was cleaved in half.

"I have given you enough chances to submit but it seems you're too stupid to reason with."'

That was the smooth voice of the creature. In its hand it no longer held a golden staff, but a sword with a golden hilt. In its red eyes they saw something that terrified them more than Og ever head. This was a being far beyond their capabilities, far beyond Og's abilities. The creature that stood not higher than their knees could not be human. This was a terrible monster that no troll alive could ever hope to beat. The terrified look in Og's eyes proved that he too had begun to understand it. But that realisation had come too late.

The creature swung its sword and blood sprayed everywhere.

-END-


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 1: Departure**

In the year 2138 AD there was a word: DMMO-RPG. That word was an acronym for "Dive Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game". These games were played by connecting a dedicated console to the brain via a neuronal nano-interface— an intracerebral nanocomputer network, created from the fusion of cyber- and nano-technology.

These were games that allowed one to enter a virtual world and experience it as though it were real life. And among the myriad DMMO-RPGs that thronged the market, one of them stood heads and shoulders above the others. Yggdrasil. This game had been painstakingly developed and released 12 years ago, in 2126. Compared to other DMMO-RPGs of the time, Yggdrasil's selling point was "player freedom".

It had easily over 2000 basic and advanced job classes. Every class had a maximum of 15 levels, and so in order to reach the overall level cap of 100, one would need at least 7 different classes. However, one could take as many classes as they wanted as long as they met each class' prerequisites. One could even take 100 classes at level 1 each, although it would be very inefficient. As such, in this system, it was virtually impossible to make identical characters unless one was deliberately trying to do so.

In addition, one could use various creator tools (sold separately) to fully customize one's armour, weaponry, flavour text, appearance, and other cosmetic settings. A vast playing field awaited its players. There were nine worlds in total: Asgard, Alfheim, Vanaheim, Nidavellir, Midgard, Jotunheim, Niflheim, Helheim, and Muspelheim.

A massive world, numerous classes, and freely customizable appearance. These features ignited the creative spirits of its Japanese players, and sparked what would later be known as a stylistic revolution. So popular was it that whenever the word "DMMO-RPG" was mentioned in Japan, listeners would immediately think of Yggdrasil.

However, all these were things of the past now.

* * *

In the skies of Vanaheim, high in the clouds, a white castle hovered. In the day its curtain walls shone with the brilliance of a crystal. So much so that it put the light spectrum to shame. It provided a breath-taking sight to all those who saw it at dawn and dusk. If an aesthete were to describe it he would compare its glow to the radiance of an uncut diamond. The white castle's beauty did not diminish in any way at night. When the players of Vanaheim looked up at night what they saw was the moonlight enveloping the castle, smothering it as if it were a precious child. Nothing in the realm could compare to it. Indeed, calling it beautiful would be a huge understatement.

This flying castle, this floating white fortress, was one of the Nine Great Guild Bases of Yggdrasil. As stated in the previous sentence only eight other bases were said to be as strong as the white castle. When cleared, most dungeons that can be turned into guild bases offered 1000 to 1500 levels of NPC storage data. The white fortress on the other hand offered the victors 3000 points. Its name was Zion.

Because there were so few bases that offered such a large amount NPC levels they were usually sites of intense conflict, changing ownership on a weekly basis. The guild that currently occupied Zion had been in possession of it for nearly a decade. Few dared to challenge this guild. It was the top-ranked guild in the entire game, the angel-type guild Seraphim.

With over 200 members it was no wonder they were the strongest guild. No guild was stupid enough to go up against such numbers. Especially with their leader Sephirah, she was widely recognized as the strongest player in the entire game. All the players in Yggdrasil knew to fear Seraphim.

At least the sane ones did.

There was once as fool from a foolish guild who went on the servers and insulted Seraphim. It resulted in his entire guild being wiped out. They were repeatedly PKed until their levels dropped to 0. From that day on no one dared to insult them anymore, until a fool from a foolish guild called them "stuck-up pricks with sticks up their arses who intimidate everyone with their numbers." To all the members of Seraphim this was a declaration of war.

Seraphim had marched its entire force to Helheim, where the guild base of the offender was situated. It was a tomb located in a swamp. Getting to the guild base had been annoying because of all the monsters located near it but alas they had finally made it. They were going to show everyone why Seraphim was feared. They were going to burn the guild base to the ground and PK them until they quit and left Yggdrasil.

The result, to say the least had not been what they had expected. They never got past the 4th Floor of the Great Tomb.

This was the first loss Seraphim had ever experienced and they were not going to take it lying down. Somehow Sephirah, with her charisma, was able to amass a never seen before-or-since force of 1500 to attack the Tomb known as Nazarick. With their numbers they had managed to bulldoze their way from level 1 past level 7 to the last floor. This time they would destroy the guild Ainz Ooal Gown. They were certain they would find the members cowering on the 8th Floor, readying themselves to beg for mercy.

The result, they were all wiped out. None of them made it out alive and to make it worse the members of Ainz Ooal Gown never raised a finger. They had been wiped out by NPCs.

That was the last time they went after Ainz Ooal Gown. Many of Seraphim's members even stopped coming to the guild base, including Sephirah. In spite of that Seraphim still remained the top ranked guild because no one quit and they were in possession of six World Items, including two of the Twenty. Only one other guild had more items than them.

The guild base of Zion had seen happy and sad times. And now it was coming to an end.

On the 1st Floor of Zion was a lush green forest with amazing waterfalls. It was inhabited by beautiful animals such as unicorns and pegasi as well as majestic creatures like lions. This place was known as Eden, the paradise that can tempt anyone to death.

Although right now its state was far from beautiful.

In the middle of the garden stood a lone figure. It was a female that wore a white pantsuit. She had dark skin with white short hair and red eyes, about 170cm and in her hand was a golden staff. This young woman's name in the game was Shiva and in the last half hour she had been using her Druid, Arch-Druid and Forest Shaman classes to fix the place.

 _Damn those jerks,_ she thought angrily. _They had been absent for months and then just show up out of the blue to wreck the place. What a bunch of dicks!_

The people she was complaining about were her comrades, the other members of Seraphim. None of them had entered the guild hall in nearly a year and then they had suddenly showed up and hosted a farewell party, messing up the place with their littering and destructive spells. _Why did they throw a party anyway? It's not like you can get any sense of pleasure out of eating and drinking in this game. I guess they only did it because Yggdrasil is ending._

The game Yggdrasil had become outdated and as a result the developers had decided to pull the plug. It was scheduled to happen at midnight. It was currently 23:51 so there were only a few minutes left and Shiva was mad that she was left to clean the mess of the other guild members.

Finally, after two minutes she was done. _Now to see if those morons have messed up anything else._

She was in luck, because the second floor was not messy and neither was the third floor. Despite being a gigantic castle Zion only had three floors. The 1st Floor was the Garden of Eden, the biggest, in which beautiful but majestic and dangerous creatures roamed. It was guarded by the Five Sacred Beasts. The 2nd Floor was the city of Babylon, guarded by the Watchers. The 3rd Floor was the heart of the dungeon Jerusalem, the city in which the Seraphim Palace could be found. Because of a magic item created by the guild's top mage, Tsukiko, teleportation inside Zion was impossible for all those who were not angels. The gates to the upper floor will not open either until all the creatures on that floor were defeated. However, getting to Jerusalem is a little more complicated than getting to Babylon.

After defeating the Watchers smaller gates open to the six towers of the white castle. In these six towers the invading party will have to kill all mobs, including the six Archangels that guard the towers. Only then will the gate to Jerusalem open. In the heart of Jerusalem, in the Seraph Palace's throne room, the prince of the angels awaited.

 _There's no mess here either_.

Shiva was now in the throne room. There was the usual red carpet that led up to a golden throne which was flanked by two NPCs. The first was a small girl who looked no older than ten. She wore a white blouse with a yellow skirt and white trainers. She had neck-length hair that was black on one side white on the other. Her eyes were mismatched too, one eye had black sclera and a white iris and the other eye had the normal sclera with an obsidian iris. This adorable little creature was called Ein; she was one of the guardians of the throne room.

The other guardian had deep crimson hair and green eyes. He was a handsome fellow who was 185 cm in height. He wore white armour and in his hand rested a golden sword, the Divine Artefact Excalibur. Whereas Ein's plain clothing would put off most visitors to the throne room the appearance of this NPC more than made up for it. He was Michael, the highest ranked NPC in Zion and the leader of Archangels.

Realising that there was nothing to worry about Shiva relaxed. She looked around the throne room. On the walls there hung pictures of many of their conquests. Among all of them, the biggest and most magnificent picture was hung above the entrance. It was a picture of Sephirah in her World Champion golden armour and shield, golden wings spread (Sephirah had probably placed it there so she could admire herself while she sat on the throne). In her right hand she held Excalibur as she charged the World Class monster Navagraha, the Devourer of the Nine Worlds. Behind her were other members Seraphim. Shiva particularly loved this picture because it was one of the few that showed her. She was flying high above the others with her crystal wings and her golden staff raised. On the ground there were vines coming from the ground trying to ensnare the Devourer.

 _The items we got from defeating that conquest were used to create the guild weapon, Seraph's Lance._

Indeed, fighting World Class disasters for items to make the golden spear which now rested on the arms of the throne was the only thing the entire guild had agreed on. Although they were a huge guild none of them ever got along. Shiva herself only got along with ten others in the guild.

When she got to the throne she let go of her staff, leaving it suspended in the air, and grabbed Seraph's Lance. It was decorated with intricate runes and gemstones. There was nothing magical about the runes; they were simply there for aesthetic purposes. These six gems on the spear were Divine level and spear itself was on par with a World Item.

 _Onee-Chan_ , she thought as she looked at the only picture on the wall with a single person. Sephirah was dressed in her golden armour with Seraph's Lance and her six golden wings spread out in their brilliance. _The void you left was too big for us to fill._

Even in the guild the number of people who knew Shiva and Sephirah were related could be counted on one hand. In the real world Sephirah was Shiva's older sister, her elder by seven years. When Shiva once asked her why she created Seraphim she just smiled and said; "my little sister is an angel, so only angels should be in the same guild with her."

Sephirah was the heart of Seraphim. It was her charisma that attracted members and it was only after she left the game that members stopped coming to the guild hall. There was a rumour among outsiders that she quit the game because she could not handle defeat at the hands of Ainz Ooal Gown.

The real reason was that she never quit. Even to this day she was still listed as Guild Leader. All of Seraphim knew that she stopped coming to the guild because she got married. Lately she had a lot on her hands with the twins. Shiva was planning on visiting the next day to tell her how everything ended in the guild hall.

"Zion has been my life for ten years," Shiva said to no one in particular. "Thank you so much Onee-Chan. I know you introduced me to Yggdrasil and founded this guild because I was having trouble finding friends. Thank you so much. Thank you Masamune, for forging my awesome weapon, Tsukiko for making my clothes and Religious Nut for discussing theology with me. It was fun."

The time was 23:59:47, only a few seconds to midnight. Less than a quarter of a minute before the Yggdrasil server is taken down forever.

She would miss this place, but it couldn't be helped. There had been many who protested the shutting down of Yggdrasil but that did not stop the "shitty devs" from pulling the plug anyway. The sad reality was that no one cared about the feelings of others. Even if everyone begged and cried nothing would change. The game had been fun, now it was time to move on.

She closed her eyes while seated on the throne and began to count down to midnight. 23:59:57, 23:59:58, 23:59:59, 00:00:00. Now it was time to sleep.

But the Status Bar was still showing. 00:00:01, 00:00:02, 00:00:03... then it disappeared.

 _What's going here?_ Shiva thought as she opened her eyes.

The HUD was gone, but she was still in the throne room. She could not place her finger on it, but something felt different.

"What's going on?" she demanded. Why had she not been logged out?

"Chichi-ue? Is something wrong?"

"How can I help you Shiva-sama?"

Shiva froze. She had never heard those voices before in her life. However, considering the fact that they came from both sides of the throne and there were only two other people in the room, who just happened to be where the voices came from, it wasn't hard to guess who had spoken. However, logic dictated that it was impossible.

 _Could there have been a bug at the end of the game? But even if that were so it wouldn't affect the shutting down of the game. I must be dreaming._ She brought her hand to her cheek and pinched it. It seemed she was not dreaming, and the pain filter seemed to have been removed. _I better find out what's going on._ She raised her hand to access the game console, but it was no longer there. Feeling more confused than ever, she decided to call one of the Game Masters with [Message]. There was a beeping sound, but no answer. At that moment her chest began to rise in panic. She was usually a calm person; however, this situation was too strange. No one could be expected to keep calm such a situation.

"Chichi-ue, you looked bothered. Is there any way to alleviate your worries?"

She turned to the person who had spoken. The worry in his emerald eyes was obvious. This was how she had programmed him, the worrywart of the Archangels.

"I'm fine Michael," she replied. It was obviously a lie. No sane person with a rational mind would be fine in this situation. _A freaking NPC is talking to me like a normal person! Not only that but his facial expression changed. My mouth moved when I talked! What is this! I need to think about it._ "Leave me alone, I wish to be alone for a while."

"Hai," the two guardians of the throne replied.

She waited patiently until the two left the throne room before she went into hysterics.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?" she screamed, jumping out of the throne. _The NPCs are talking like normal people and they just obeyed an order they are not even suppose to recognise._ She set Seraph's Lance back on the throne the way it was. Her eyes drifted to her staff, which was still suspended in midair. She held her hand out, not expecting anything to happen, and willed it to come to her. Miraculously it did. _I can recall my staff the way I usually do, although without the help of a GM console. Does it mean I can still use magic?_

For some reason she knew that even without the aid of a GM console she would be able to use magic. Most level 100 magic casters had 300 spells at their disposal so it was a challenge to remember them all, however, she could remember all the spells she had learned and what they do vividly. She could so tell how much MP she had. Refusing to ponder on it further, she raised staff and cast the first spell that came to mind.

[Rosebush]

As the name implies, this was a 1st tier spell that summoned a rosebush no matter what surface the spell was cast on, as long as it was non-magical or living(plants not included). A bush of red roses sprung from the floor. Shiva bent down and plucked one. Its pleasant smell assaulted her nostrils as she retracted. _Huh? Smell. That's impossible. In Yggdrasil you can't smell anything._

With that she came to a conclusion. Even though she was in her game avatar, this was not Yggdrasil. Everything felt too real. But if she stood here pondering her situation any second longer she would lose her mind.

"You can come in now," she called to the entrance.

As she figured, the two who guard the throne room had been right outside the door. In a matter of seconds they were kneeling in front of Shiva.

"You called us Chichi-ue," Michael spoke. "What can we do for you?"

Shiva smiled faintly when she heard him address her. When she created the seven Archangels she programmed them to call her _Father_ even though she was a girl. In Hinduism Shiva is the god of creation (and destruction, but she liked to exclude that part) so in a moment of stupidity and inspiration she set them to call her Chichi-ue, not that she ever expected to ever hear them actually address her. _And what's with the servile attitudes, even from Ein who I didn't create? No, I'll think about everything later._

"Does this place feel different for you Michael?" she asked.

After only a second of confusion he replied. "No Chichi-ue. There is nothing out of place. Everything is exactly as it should be."

"Well for me it isn't and I'm not liking it?" Shiva told him. "Check with your siblings, the Watchers and the Sacred Beasts to see if they feel something is off. On the other hand I will be go and see the situation outside."

The moment she finished the last sentence the two in the throne room's facial expressions became scandalised.

"But Chichi-ue," Michael began to protest. "You are the absolute ruler of Zion. Going outside is too risky."

"Huh?" Shiva gaped at him. "Do you think there's someone outside waiting to ambush me?"

"It is a possibility," Michael replied. "No matter how small the threat it is my job as Chief Angel to make sure you remain unharmed."

"You worry too much," Shiva said. "If the probability of falls under five percent you should ignore it."

"Chichi-ue, please don't be so nonchalant about it? If you get into any sort of trouble everyone in Zion will gladly give their lives to keep you safe."

"Is that so?" Shiva said slowly, pondering what she just heard. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Ein nod her head eagerly. _Hm, it would be troublesome if I put them in such a situation._ "Then I will have Ein accompany me. Does my choice satisfy you?"

"Yes Chichi-ue," Michael said, his expression back to normal. "You will be safer in her hands than anyone else in Zion."

"Is that so?" Shiva said as she walked past the two who were kneeling. "Then I'll leave everything to you. Ein, let's go."

"Yes Shiva-sama," came the child's voice.

A second later Shiva could hear the child's footsteps following behind her. She didn't speak to her until they were outside the throne room.

"Do you have a flying item?" she asked the little girl.

"Yes Shiva-sama," the girl answered.

"Then you should equip it. If you don't you will fall out of the sky."

Ein reached into her pocket space and pulled out a necklace. Shiva watched her put it around her neck before she decided to make preparations as well.

She began to glow all over, illuminating the entrance hall with silver light. Six great crystal clear wings sprouted from her back and began to flap, lifting her feet off the ground. Above her head a crystal halo appeared.

This was the angel form of Shiva, a Seraph Empyrean, the highest level angel. A normal Seraph angel usually had white wings, which meant Shiva's avatar was custom built. In a guild where everyone was an angel and many of them were either Seraphim or Cherubim too many people had white wings. Because the closest angel type monsters can come to walking is gliding several inches from the ground, almost all the members of Seraphim had favoured their human forms when not questing. When they were though, the flurry of white wings had annoyed her, so she decided to look different.

[Greater Teleportation]

Vanaheim was the home of the Vanir, a race of gods associated with intelligence fertility and nature. It was arguably the most beautiful realm of Yggdrasil. Dense evergreen jungles stretched as far as the eye can see. In the middle were great streams of crystal clear water. The vegetation was so thick that the only city in Vanaheim was built in the trees. The architecture was truly a sight to behold. Such was the beautiful realm of Vanaheim.

It was not what Shiva was seeing.

Below her, instead of a jungle there was a savannah. It was an endless plain of yellow grass with hardly any trees. If there were any water sources nearby, she could not see them. Her eyes, which were far superior to those of a human, could not spot a single sign of life, intelligent or otherwise. It was a barren wasteland.

Suddenly her composure left. Ever since all this had started she had been trying her best keep calm but no more. This was the last straw. She could not handle it anymore.

"GYAAAAAAH!"

-END-

 **Character Stats**

 _Heteromorphic Races_

Shiva: The Crystal-Winged Druid

Job: Ruler of Zion, "Father" of the Archangels

Alignment: Neutral, Sense of Justice: 5

Racial Level: Angel 15

Dominion 15

Seraph 15

Job Level: Druid 15

Arch Druid 10

Forest Shaman 10

Sword Saint 10

Fencer 10

Racial Level: 45, Job Level: 55, Total Level: 100

Ability Chart

HP: 80, MP:80, PHYATK:75, PHYDEF:80, AGI:70, MAGATK:80, MAGDEF:90, RESIST:60, SPECIAL:95

#####

 _Heteromorphic Races_

Michael: Prince of Angels

Job: Leader of the Archangels, Virtue of Temperance

Alignment: Extreme Good, Sense of Justice: 500

Racial Level: Angel 5

Archangel 5

Principality 5

Dominion 15

Seraph 10

Job Level: Gaurdian 15

Holy Knight 15

Paladin 15

Battle Priest 15

Racial Level: 40, Job Level: 60, Total Level: 100

Ability Chart

HP:100, MP:50, PHYATK:95, PHYDEF:80, AGI:70, MAGATK:40, MAGDEF:85, RESIST:80, SPECIAL: 80


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 2: Archangels**

"Oi, Onii-sama. What's going on? I heard Chichi-ue has locked herself in her room."

The one who entered the Throne Room was a woman who appeared to be in her late teens. She had long blue hair that was in a ponytail and golden eyes with a light of mischief. At 175cm her body was perfect with the right proportions, which she flaunted in a striped top so small it only covered her chest area and shorts that only that ended less than 5cm below the crotch and exposing a lot of leg. She wore a white overcoat that did nothing to cover it up her indecent clothing because she left it open and on her back hung a sword as long and wide as her body.

"Why are you here?" demanded Michael. "Zion's security has been raised to maximum. Everyone should be manning their posts in case of an attack."

"Relax Onii-sama," the woman said calmly. "If Zion is attacked it the enemy will take at least an hour to reach my tower. I could teleport there in an instant."

"An order is an order Uriel," he retorted. "Return to your post immediately or there will be consequences."

Of the seven Archangels, Uriel was the wildest and most problematic. Making her obey orders was no easy task as she was always looking for loopholes to exploit. However this time she had gone too far. This time it was not he who had issued the order but their 'father' and creator Shiva-sama. To Michael, disobeying a direct order from their creator was tantamount to treason. When his hand went to the sword at his hip she raised her hand in surrender.

"Okay okay. Fine." Her mischievous appearance turned into a worried one. "I just wanted to know what was going on with Chichi-ue anyway."

Michael's face softened when he heard this. When his creator returned from outside she simply told him about the situation outside and left, saying she was going to sleep. Since angels were heteromorphic beings who had no need for sleep it was a worrisome statement.

"Oh, so even the brute gets worried sometimes," came a voice from the entrance of the throne room.

Michael's attention was diverted to a pretty girl of about fourteen with long violet hair and hazel eyes. She wore white sorcerer's robes and carried an obsidian wand at her waist.

"Ah, so Chastity has come to grace us with her presence," Uriel replied. "Did you get tired of waiting in your tower for the prince who will never come?"

 _Here we go again,_ Michael thought. Sparks always flew when Uriel and Sariel are the same room. The battle never got physical and it always ended with Sariel crying. From the look on the younger girl's face it looked like that time was not far away. Sariel was too sensitive. It would be annoying if it got that far.

"That's enough Uriel," he declared. "I don't know anything about a prince going to Sariel's tower but I will not allow you to throw obscenities in this sacred play."

But of course it would take more than that to make her obey.

"The reference to a prince is from a fairytale who saves a princess from a tower," Uriel said with a mean smirk. "But of course that will never happen. Even a prince would want something in return for saving a damsel and I don't think the poster child for celibacy can provide it."

"And just what's wrong with that?" Sariel shouted, there were already tears welling in her eyes. "It's a virtue, my virtue you insensitive bitch!"

"Hey now, listen here you little-"

"If a single tear spills from Sari-chan's eyes you will pay for it Uri-chan."

The voice that said that made Uriel stiffen. The latest person to enter the Throne Room had indigo hair in a braid and grey eyes hidden behind rectangular spectacles. She stood at 178cm and wore a long white dress that covered even her feet. Her appearance was that of a woman in her early twenties. She was Jophiel, the only person in Zion who could control Uriel.

"On-Onee-sama!" Uriel exclaimed. "Sariel and I were just fooling around, you know."

"Is that so?" Jophiel asked sceptically.

Before Uriel could answer Sariel let out a cry and ran into her older sister's arms. She then proceeded to tell Jophiel about how Uriel was being mean to her and as with children, she altered the story to her convenience in order to make Jophiel even angrier. Michael could almost see Uriel withering in front of him. If it had been any other time he would have enjoyed the spectacle.

However, now was not the time for childish games.

"Why have you come here Jophiel?" he asked her. "Are you going against Chichi-ue's orders as well?"

Jophiel shot him a cold look. He could see that she was clearly offended by his question. "Like I would ever do something like that. Our Glorious Father messaged Ralph-chan and told him to inform us that she will meet us in the Throne Room."

Just then the Throne Room once again opened and in stepped three boys. The first of them was a hulking figure of nearly two metres in white mail similar to Michael's. He had long spiky orange hair and carried a red spear on his back and a cheerful expression that reached even his almond azure eyes. The second had short spiky green hair with dark eyes that swept all over the place. His was 180 and his appearances placed him at around fifteen or sixteen. He wore white dragon leather armour while the last person adorned white and gold priest robes. He was the youngest of them all with the appearance of a ten year old and a height just a few centimetres above five feet. He possessed shoulder length golden hair and large almond eyes that could melt even the coldest of hearts. In their order of appearance their names with Ramiel, Raphael and Gabriel.

"Nii-sama, have you by any chance seen U-" Raphael stopped talking when he saw the person he was going to ask hiding behind Michael (however she got there). "Oh, it looks like we are all here. Chichi-ue will be here in a moment."

The moment he finished the sentence the doors to the Room opened again. When they immediately cleared to the sides of the red carpet and fell to their knees with their heads lowered. The majestic figure of their creator appeared in the doorway, her luminous form bathing the room in silver light. As she glided past them they each released their white wings and their luminous forms joined their "father's." When the ruler of Zion settled in the Throne they raised their heads in unison and prepared for what she was going to discuss.

 _This is so uncomfortable,_ Shiva thought as she looked at the Archangels. While she sat on the throne she felt her crystal feathers poking into her back. _I'll definitely complain about this one Onee-chan._ Sephirah was the one who came up with this method. Since most of the guild members preferred to roam around in their human forms she decided important meetings were to be conducted in their true forms. _Because of the suppressed sense of touch in Yggdrasil it probably never felt this bad for her._ If she did she would have gotten rid of that rule.

 _Just what is this world anyway?_

After she had seen the outside of Zion she immediately returned and locked herself in her room where she had tried to desperate grasp what was happening and agonized about what to do next. Michael had said she was the Absolute ruler of Zion and everyone would risk their lives for her. From the eager looks in the eyes of the Archangels who were looking at her she could tell they would follow any order, no matter how ludicrous. Her chest tightened at this. Was this how Sephirah felt when she had led them into battle against World Class threats and other guilds? The pressure of knowing that the lives of others lay in your hands was overwhelming.

"I thank you meeting me on such short notice my Angels," she began, looking them in the face one by one. _They look magnificent!_ Truly, now that she had gotten over her shock she could fully appreciate everything around her. When she had left her room and really looked at Jerusalem it had been like she was seeing it for the first time. The golden statues and architecture were real works of art and the way everyone looked at her; they had all stopped what they were doing and knelt before her, their eyes filled with wonder as they looked upon her. But even that could not compare to the sight of her creations looking up at her with eager expressions. For any creator the moment seeing their creation come to life must be the greatest feeling in existence. This must have been how God felt after he breathed life into Adam, or how Frankenstein would have felt if his creation had not turned on him.

"There's no need to thank us Chichi-ue," Michael said with a smile, the rest of them nodded in agreement. "As your servants and more importantly your children we will always respond to your call, no matter how far we are, no matter what we have to drop."

"Hm, good to know." Shiva was exceedingly pleased to hear that, especially with the other Archangel's hanging onto their leader's every word and nodding vigorously. However, if she was going to be a ruler it would be wise to learn how to keep certain things to herself. "Seeing as we are in a crisis I will not be taking up much of your time." Seven pairs of eyes looked at her as if asking her to continue. She complied. "I'm sure some of you have already heard, the Zion has been teleported from Vanaheim. In fact we are no longer in Yggdrasil"

Michael and Raphael's expressions hardly changed, the rest of had looked upon her with wide eyes.

"B-but, how?" asked a puzzled Gabriel. "Something like that is impossible." When he began to doubt his own words he turned to his siblings for confirmation. "Right?"

"I have never heard of an item that could do that," Ramiel assured him with a faint smile.

"You don't hear much," Uriel taunted him. "Your senses are the dullest among us."

"Actually Gabriel and Sariel have the weakest senses," Ramiel corrected her.

"So, Onee-sama, who is a magic caster, has senses that are superior to yours?" Uriel responded with a smirk.

"That's enough Uriel!" Michael said through gritted teeth. Whatever anyone was going to say was forgotten when they heard the anger in voice of their oldest. "If you continue to show anymore disrespect in front of Chichi-ue I will punish you severely."

That iron clad declaration made everyone, Shiva included, shiver. Silence followed for about half a minute before someone spoke up.

"Chichi-ue," Raphael began. "Is there an item that can teleport a fortress as big as Zion? Perhaps a World Item?"

"If there is it would have to be several levels above World Class," Shiva responded. _To not only teleport us to a new world but also make the NPCs come to life and make everything feel real._ She had already confirmed that it was not a dream and neither were the NPCs robots. Earlier before she came to the Throne Room she had pricked her finger and then Ein's. Both had discharged crimson blood. Even the combined power of the Twenty would be unable to achieve something like that. According to Yggdrasil's legend each world is a leaf of the World Tree and the World Items are withered leaves of the tree. To be able to create this kind of phenomena you would need a tool crafted from the entire trunk of Yggdrasil and that was disregarding the fact that it was a game. To silence the gasps that resulted from her response she added. "Such an item does not exist."

"What do we do?" Sariel asked n a panicky voice.

"That is the reason I called you all here," Shiva replied. "For now all you should do is remain on standby in case of emergency. I've already sent Ein down to Eden to tell Ki he's in charge of patrolling Zion's skies."

"That slacker?" Michael asked, surprised. "Wouldn't it have been better to ask Ao and Akai to do it instead?"

"The reason I sent Ki outside instead is because he is in tune with the earth," Shiva told him. "He can sense an insect crawling on the ground from hundreds of metres above. With him in the sky we won't have to worry about watching the ground as well."

The manipulator job class was one that could freely control a certain element without the use of spells, a useful ability that would have been popular amongst Yggdrasil players if not for its ridiculous level of mana consumption. The rate of consumption was so great that a level 100 player with no experience or inadequate levels in the manipulator class can have their MP drained to zero ain seconds. For that reason alone people steered clear of it.

However the manipulator class also had its advantages apart from freely manipulating an element. Unlike magic casters who had to stop moving in order to cast a spell manipulators could move around as much as they want while controlling their element. In order to manipulate an element one has to first get in tune with it, meaning they have to feel everything about the element and whatever is in contact with it. For example, if a water manipulator went near a river he would be able to not only feel the flow of the current but also the fish and plants in the river. Likewise, Ki, who was a master of earth manipulation could feel the trees and grass of the surroundings and every critter that stepped on the ground. It was no exaggeration to say a manipulator is one with his element. But of course there was a certain range in which a manipulator could sense their element. Ki could sense the earth in a fifty kilometre radius.

"Oh," Michael said in comprehension. He then bowed his head in apology. "Please forgive your unworthy servant for questioning your orders."

"There is no need for that," Shiva told him. "Anyway, I'm planning on going out there to learn more about where we are." She paused to see how they would react. It looked like they were going to object. Before they did though she continued. "Michael shall accompany me outside. In his place I'm placing Jophiel in charge of Zion. She will be showed the respect deserving of a leader." _Although looking at them it doesn't look like she any trouble with that._ Jophiel bowed her head in acknowledgement. Her indifferent expression said she was unaware of the looks of terror her younger siblings were giving her, or just good at ignoring them.

"Understand Chichi-ue," she said firmly.

But Shiva was not done. "Further more I need you to use your divination magic to map the area within five hundred kilometres of Zion."

"Understood."

"Raphael, you two will go outside, but you will be scouting for signs of life in the vicinity. If they seem intelligent engage with them and try to learn about where we are. If they are hostile you retreat."

"Hai."

"Take your subordinates with you just in case. Although refrain from taking more than a hundredth of a legion. I don't want anyone starting a potential war when we have no clue of where we are and how strong the inhabitants of these lands are."

There were twelve legions of angels in Zion. Apart from Michael, each Archangel controlled two legions, which are headed by the twelve Watchers who guard Babylon. Everyone had put a lot of work into the creation of the Twelve Legions, some even going as far as to blow an entire month's pay on it (From what Shiva heard their spouses were pretty pissed). However, the Legions were simply made for role-playing purposes and had never been marched out together. But since the NPCs came to life Shiva had guessed that marching the legions had become possible and the way Raphael bowed his head in acknowledgement it seems her guess had been correct.

"Understood."

With a sigh Shiva's gaze went to the rest. _Aaaaaaah, Onee-chan. If only some of your leadership skills could rub off me._ Although Shiva sounded confident she was fidgeting on the inside. She had lead parties in battle before but not like this. Back then everything had been a game. Now everything was real. The reason she sounded confident was because she was imitating her sister. Sephirah had always been calm no matter the situation. And she had always issued orders without stuttering. Such an action would be showing weakness, and it was common sense that people preyed on other people's weaknesses.

"The rest of you can go back to whatever you were doing before I issued the emergency," she told them. "Just make sure you are prepared for battle."

"Roger!"

With that Shiva stood up and reached out into empty space. When her golden staff appeared in her hand her eyes swept once more to her attendants.

"Now, let's get to business."

-END-

 **Character Stats**

 _Heteromorphic Races_

Uriel: The Unstoppable Barbaric Force

Job: One of the Seven Archangels, Virtue of Humility

Alignment: Neutral-Good, Sense of Justice: 100

Racial Level: Angel 10

Archangel 5

Power 10

Seraph 10

Job Level: Warrior 5

Barbarian 15

Berserker 15

Dragon Warrior 15

Dragon Knight 15

Racial Level: 35, Job Level: 65, Total Level: 100

Ability Charts

HP:100, MP:20, PHYATK:100, PHYDEF:90, AGI:75, MAGATK: 25, MAGDEF: 70, RESIST: 85, SPECIAL: 100

#####

 _Heteromorphic Races_

Sariel: The Thousand Army of One

Job: One of the Seven Archangels, Virtue of Chastity

Alignment: Great Good, Sense of Justice: 300

Racial Level: Angel 5

Archangel 5

Dominion 10

Seraph 10

Job: Elemental Mage 15

Enhancer 15

Summoner 15

Master Summoner 15

Agent of Destruction 10

Racial Level: 30, Job Level: 70, Total Level: 100

Ability Charts

HP: 65, MP: 100, PHYATK: 30, PHYDEF: 80, AGI: 40, MAGATK: 95, MAGDEF: 90, RESIST: 80, SPECIAL: 90


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 3: The World Outside**

Shiva could not help but smile in amazement as she flew across the barren plains. It was not because she viewed the savannah as being beautiful. No, the tropical rainforests of Vanaheim were far more beautiful. The dry yellow grass and occasional shrub could never compare to the dense evergreen vegetation.

The reason she was fascinated by everything she saw was because she had never seen sight so clear in her world. The air smelled so clean, like back when people didn't need filters. The sky was clear and she welcomed the heat of the sun on her skin. Back on Earth she had never seen the sun because thick smoke clouds covered the sky. She had never played in the rain or gone to the beach either. The only rain she had ever witnessed was acid rain, carbonic which deteriorated building structures and sulphuric which burned the skin. There was no point in going to the beach either because it was littered with rubbish and the sea was filled with radioactive waste. That was the state of the world she came from. In this world however, she could experience all of it. The beach, the sea, the rain; things she only read about in books from a hundred years ago.

"Chichi-ue," Michael called to her over the wind. "You're smiling. Did something happen?"

"It's nothing," she replied cheerily. "It's just been a long time since I felt this free."

By flapping her six powerful wings hard she shot on ahead of him and begun to spin midair like she had seen jets in countless movies. Unfortunately there were no clouds to burst through before taking a dive and pulling up just before she hits the ground. She would have really loved to try something like that.

While Shiva was playing around in the sky Michael on the other hand was surveying the land. His 'father' had entrusted him with her protection so he was on high alert. He would not allow anything to get past him and pose a threat to her. If he did he would step down as Chief Angel.

"What's that?" In the distance, about a hundred kilometres away, there was some kind of community.

Using his racial skill [Omni-Sight] he was able see that it was a village inhabited by trolls. Shiva likewise used the same skill and saw the monstrous giants that lived in the village. Trolls were not friendly creatures. They were primitive beings of a barbaric nature and a taste for flesh, especially that of humanoids. Usually it would be considered suicide to march into a troll community, but Shiva used [Life Essence] to check their HP. It was quite meagre so they must be really low levelled and would not pose a threat to them.

"We might as well start here," Shiva said. "Let's go check it out."

The two of angels increased their speed to supersonic levels as they sped towards the community.

* * *

"We are approximately two hundred and fifty kilometres west of Zion," Raphael said, looking up at the mountain range blocking his path. "How come we haven't encountered a single intelligent being until now?"

There been no need to look for life-forms within fifty kilometres of Zion because of the Sacred Beast Ki's abilities so Raphael and his subordinates had less ground to cover. This world though was unlike Yggdrasil where you will always encounter a threat every kilometre. The most dangerous creature they had come across in the endeavour was a lion chasing after a gazelle, a sure threat to humans but it would shatter its teeth trying to bite through the skin of an angel as powerful as him.

They searched up three hundred kilometres north, east and south of the flying fortress. It was only when they came west did Raphael sense an intelligent presence within the mountains. It was sizable presence, but nowhere near as strong as Raphael or any of his chosen subordinates. The weakest of his subordinates was a Level 70 Power and this creature was around Level 60-65. He couldn't tell what it was though because it was within the mountain and it seemed to be warding itself from spying. Even [Omni-Sight] couldn't penetrate its barrier.

 _I guess we have no choice._ "Pen-san and I will go inside the mountain, the rest of you will wait here until we either return or something happens. If something does happen and the two of us are unable to handle it will contact you immediately and ask for assistance." _Chichi-ue said to avoid unnecessary fighting so I'll hold them back unless I find myself in an impossible situation, which I find highly unlikely._

As ordered by his 'father' he did not take more than sixty subordinates, in fact he had taken only a sixth of that. Three Dominions, three Powers and three Virtues, all between Level 70 and 75. The tenth subordinate he took was a Cherub. This was a female in a long black dress with no shoes. She had a thick brown mane for hair and her ears which were located on top of her head, belonged to a feline creature. The four black wings behind her and the lack of a halo atop her head indicated that she was a Fallen Angel. This was Penemue, one of the Watchers who guard Babylon.

She followed silently after Raphael, who found an entrance into the mountain range. It was a large cave thirty metres wide and about fifty high. It had been concealed by illusion magic which could have fooled anyone who did not possess the Archangel's incredible senses. As the darkness enveloped them they felt no need to cast light magic, not that they could anyway since none of them were casters. Apart from the superior eyesight if angels that enabled them to see in the dark there was also the fact that Raphael illuminated the entire place. Such was the presence of the highest level angel. In daylight the presence of a mid-tier angel was usually so bright it made the surroundings dimmer. For an angel of Raphael's level the effect is amplified.

"Pen-san, what do you think the creature in this mountain is?"

"A demon," Penemue relied stoically. "They have always loved dark places."

"They love fiery places even more," Raphael said to her. "I cannot sense any heat coming from this place so I doubt it's a volcano. Even if it was a demon in here I would be able to sense its demonic aura."

As a Scout, there were none inside Zion who could even come close to matching Raphael in the sensory department. As a result he was responsible for information gathering. In order to deceive his senses one would have to either be in possession of powerful defensive magic, skills equal to upper tenth tier magic or above or they would have to be a master illusionist. In all of Zion, even when counting the Elohim, the Supreme Beings that created the NPCs of Zion, only a handful could manage it. Currently Jophiel was the only one.

They soon reached what Raphael assumed was the middle of the mountain range. The cave widened in both height and width, becoming big enough to fit a town or a small city. There was no community anywhere though. What met the two angels as they emerged from the cave into the enclosed space was a form, a gigantic and dark form that seemed to suck in all the light from its surroundings, even the one emitted by Raphael. So dark was this creature that even Raphael couldn't see most of its features. Its eyes, its only feature that could be seen clearly, looked down on the two angels with cold fury.

For a moment there was silence. The creature glared at the two and the stared back. When nothing else happened the creature opened its maw and spoke in a voice that shook the entire cavern.

"WHO DARES ENTER MY LAIR!"

* * *

The sun was setting. It was time to feed the livestock. This duty, as always, fell to Uggu Fuu. The other trolls thought it disgraceful. War Trolls would rather be out in the field fighting and getting stronger than feeding livestock, so the duty fell to the weakest of them, Uggu Fuu.

War Trolls were not as big as Mountain Trolls but they were stronger, way stronger. Uggu, while being smaller than the others of his tribe, was not as muscular and possessed strength inferior to theirs. There were females in the tribe who were stronger than him. For this reason, his mother had named him Uggu Fuu out of shame, a long name for a weak child.

 _One day Uggu Fuu get strong, become strongest,_ he had vowed the day his father had exiled him from the tribe. He would so strong no one would beat him. They would all be too scared to challenge him. _Then Uggu Fuu beat Father and become chief._

That had been years ago. Uggu Fuu never got stronger. Wherever he went he'd met trolls stronger than him, always stealing his food. They would beat him up and only leave him when they had gotten their fill of his food. After a few years of this Uggu Fuu got tired of it and decided to return to the village. The only reason he was allowed back in the village was because his father, the chief, had been defeated and replaced by his older brother, who had returned to the village after years away.

With the change in chieftain came a change in how matters were conducted. The new chief was quick to solidify his power by killing and eating anyone who challenged his right to rule. He was incredibly strong, having the strength to pull trees out of the ground by their roots and swing them like clubs. He implemented new rules in the village. Firstly the War Trolls would hone their skills with training, second only the chief could mate with the females and lastly they would attack other troll communities, subjugate them and force them to hunt food for them. No one opposed the first change, however the other two were only accepted after a few dead War Trolls and a few razed villages. No one objected after that, especially when the new chief obliterated an entire tribe of mountain trolls by his lone self.

In order to avoid the same fate all nearby villages provided them with livestock they could raise and eat. The raising part was hard for a race of carnivores as voracious as trolls so the other troll communities had to constantly deliver livestock. There were different varieties; goblins, orcs, beastmen and the rare and incredibly tasty humans. Uggu Fuu was in charge of feeding them, fattening them.

The War Troll community had a dozen huts surrounding the pen in order to prevent the livestock from escaping, though everyone liked it when they tried. None of these creatures could outrun a troll, still, it gave the villagers an excuse to chase them down and kill them.

Uggu Fuu approached the pen with a large rusted bucket in hand. In this bucket was mixture of leftovers from previous meals. Uggu Fuu threw the contents inside the pen and watched in satisfaction as the livestock scrambled for it. He smiled as he watched them scratch and claw at each other. _They dumb food, eating themselves._ Only the humans did not join the fray. They ate their food undisturbed. A delicacy such as that could not be allowed to starve, especially now that the sole female was five months pregnant. They have kept her longer than all the other livestock and each of them knew that anyone who took food from them would be killed immediately without remorse.

Uggu Fuu stayed and watched the livestock to make sure the humans ate in peace. After a while he was satisfied with the result turned to leave them when he sensed all activity in the village stop. Mothers had been conversing with daughters about giving them to the chief to produce offspring as strong as him and fathers were teaching sons how to handle a club. All activity came to an abrupt halt. Uggu Fuu immediately found the cause of this.

Two figures had entered the village. They were garbed in white clothes. One in strange white clothes that Uggu Fuu would never know was called a suit and the other wearing pure white armour. They were both very short, not even reaching Uggu Fuu's waist. The two creatures were humans with a peculiar smell and an aura of danger, but Uggu Fuu was not smart enough to know realise that and he was smarter than everyone in the village. All he saw was two humans who walked into the village as if they owned it.

It didn't take long before the shock of the tribe turned to glee. Two more of the delicious humans had just stepped into town. Among the tribe of forty War Trolls most of them had never tasted human meat before but they desperately wanted to, especially after listening to the ones who had. It was apparently one of the most delicious meats, second only to elf, whatever that was. If the number of human livestock increased that would mean their chances of finally tasting human would increase as well. That was the thought of two youngsters as they got up and charged the humans with their giant clubs. Everyone watched in glee to see the results, imagining the two young trolls bludgeoning the humans to death.

If Trolls were smart enough to read the auras of people they would not have smiled so gleefully. If they had been aware that the two beings who had walked into the village had done it because they were confident no one in their community came even close to presenting a threat they would have turned tail and run for their lives. Unfortunately trolls did not possess a high enough intelligence and stayed, even when the creature in the armour drew its sword and instantly decapitated the young trolls.

Sure it shocked the trolls, but only for a while. The two youngsters had long names so they were not strong, that is why they were defeated. With most of them coming to that conclusion one trained warrior charged the two with his giant club. However, he was bisected with one slash. This shocked the War Trolls again but angered them even more. Three warriors charged the armoured creature at the same time. No one moved when they were decapitated with a single slash.

 _Monsters!_ Uggu Fuu thought, panic starting to rise from within. _Not human. Too strong!_ However, the rest of his tribe though they were now hesitant to engage, did not come to that conclusion.

The second creature, which was not wearing armour stepped forward and began to speak. From its tone it sounded like it was asking a question. The problem was that no one understood what it was saying.

".era yeht dekcuf woh meth lleT !sdrater ginkcuf ,lla meth llik s'teL !erad dluow sdaehtihs esehT," the being in armour said to the other. (Chichi-ue, they cannot understand you. Why don't you switch to common speech)

".dnatsrednu ot bmud gnikcuf oot era yeht tuB .thgir er'ouY, " (What are you talking abou- oh)

At this point Shiva's cheeks reddened and she looked away so Michael could not see that she was embarrassed. How had she not noticed it before? All this time when she thought she had been speaking Japanese she was actually conversing in the angel tongue of Enochian? Was it because she was an angel that she was able to speak the language?

Seeing the look of confusion on the troll's faces she decided to put her thoughts away and access them some other time.

"Why have you locked up these people like animals?" she demanded, now clearly speaking what she knew was Japanese, or the common tongue as Michael called it.

When she and Michael were nearing the village they were able to make out the figures in the pen at the centre of their community. Nine goblins, two beastmen, four orcs and three human; eighteen in total were being held like cattle in a pen. They were all naked and from the look of them slept in their own waste. Shiva, who had been an avid reader of fantasy novels in the Real World, did not need help figuring out what they were being kept for. She had yet read a book with a vegan troll.

Even though she knew it was common in fantasy novels for trolls to eat people it did not stop her from feeling disgusted and furious, especially when she saw one of the trolls throw them food which landed on the ground, in their faeces. How inhumane, to subject them to such horrible treatment. She had felt like vomiting but apparently that option was not available for angels. _Even the goblins, orcs and beastmen with their barbaric streak don't deserve to be subjected to such inhuman treatment._

"ANSWER MY QUESTION!"

Shiva was livid. She came from a world where the standard for living was so high and expensive that people trampled over one another to advance. The rich had it all and the poor had nothing, human rights were negligible. But this, this was something only a demon would do.

"WHO LET PUNY HUMAN OUT OF PEN?" a loud deep voice responded.

It came from the biggest hut. A second later an enormous troll appeared. He was the size of a mountain troll, but as muscular as the other trolls (come to think of it Shiva only realised now that she had never met this particular breed of troll before.) It, like all the other males of the community wore a loincloth made of animal hide and in its hand it carried a metal club twice as long as Shiva's body, and as thick. Its footsteps were loud and accompanied by soft tremors. When the other trolls saw the troll the first emotion they felt was fear, fear of being killed for hesitating to fight the two beings. However, after a second relief replaced their fear. These creatures were strong, but surely not as strong as their chief.

"Are you the mastermind behind this atrocity?" Shiva asked the troll.

If she had taken a bit of time to remember what she read in the fantasy novels she would have realised that trolls were not smart enough to understand words with more than three syllables. The answer she got after much confusion was, "OG! TROLL CHIEF!"

If he was going to introduce himself then she should probably do the same before she killed him. Trolls were creatures with intelligence slightly above that of a wild beast, so them eating people could be overlooked, that was how just how the world worked. However, she could not spare anyone cable of such monstrosity. _I'll kill them all!_

"I am Shiva." She was about to say something else but was interrupted when the big troll, Og, said a simple, "NO!". Shiva screwed up her face in puzzlement. "What."

"PUNY HUMAN WEAK, PUNY HUMAN NOT HAVE SHORT NAME LIKE OG. PUNY HUMAN LIE. PUNY HUMAN NAME LONG BECAUSE HUMAN WEAK!"

 _WHAT!_ The past few hours had been the most outlandish in Shiva's entire life, yet the statement from the troll Og had her more confused than anything else. _He's denying me my name because it's short? Short name means you're strong and long name means you're weak? What the fuck is that?_

"YOU KILL OG MEN!" the troll screamed, finally noticing the six bodies lying around. "OG KILL YOU!"

For his size OG was surprisingly fast, managing to close the gap between them within a split second. He brought down his club hard on Shiva's head. However, before he could land a blow Michael appeared before his creator and deflected the club with the flat of his blade, shocking ever troll present.

 _Real monsters!_ Uggu Fuu thought to himself as he slowly backed away. _Brother not win, Uggu Fuu will run._

"Michael, would you please step back," Shiva told him calmly. She seriously felt like smacking him on the back of the head for interfering.

Michael was of course opposed to letting her fight. "Chichi-ue, I cannot allow-"

"It's fine," Shiva said forcefully. "These guys are incredibly weak so they pose no problem. Why don't you watch out for creatures that might actually be a threat?"

"Understood," Michael bowed before he stood back.

"Surrender now and I might just spare your life," Shiva said turned to the giant and took her staff out of her item box. Of course she had no intention of sparing him.

To trolls it seemed like it had just appeared out of thin air and most of them did a double take. Shiva however did not have time to deal with their reactions as she brought up the staff to defend. It was probably a very strong attack from the troll, but Shiva did not feel anything when she blocked it. The troll began to attack with stronger blows, some of even generated wind strong enough to damage the huts. However, Shiva didn't budge at all and when she tired of block she sidestepped and allowed the club, which she had now identified as being made from adamantite, to strike the ground. Then she stepped on the club, causing it to bend under the pressure of her foot, and struck at the defenceless troll so fast none but the person behind her saw. Head, ribs, knee; because she was feeling particularly mean she made sure her hardest blow caught him between the legs, causing him to howl in pain and sink to his knees.

"Now would be a great time to surrender," Shiva said passively. In truth she was enjoying it, especially that crotch shot. It helped not only to quell her anger but also relieved a lot of stress she had been feeling lately.

Og's skin had broken in most of the places she had struck and blood was gushing out of his wounds like a fountain, however, before Shiva's very eyes the wounds began to close and within seconds it looked more like someone else's blood had spilled on Og than his own.

 _Amazing,_ Shiva thought, transfixed by the scene. In Yggdrasil no one ever bled, when someone was injured they continued on able to fight and when they died the burst to pieces. Even the trolls in Yggdrasil did not bleed. A player would only be able to tell the troll was regenerating when they used [Life Essence] or a similar skill. _So this is how the real thing looks like?_

While Shiva was thinking about this Og stood up and swung his bent club. This time Shiva felt something was different in his attack, there was a certain distortion around him and the speed of the attack had increased multiple times. This time she didn't wait to see what would happen. Clutching her golden staff hard she willed it to change and what met the club was a katana blade, which cleaved the club cleanly in half. It was then that Og realised how completely out of his depth he was because his eyes were now wide with fear. However, it was too late for him. Even if he had submitted earlier she would not have spared him. But he didn't need to know that.

"I gave you enough chances to submit but it seems you're too stupid to reason with."

Her next attack cut his head cleanly off, there would be no regenerating from that. Silence followed the few moments after the might War Troll Chief's body fell to the ground. His blood had sprayed everywhere around him and would probably have sprayed her clothes if she had not cast a silent [Shield] around herself. Her gaze went to the golden hilt katana with a crystal blade in her hand. The combined efforts of Seraphim's top mage Tsukiko and top smith Masamune had yielded the weapon she carried. Imotep, it was a Divine Artefact. A sword that could dispel any magic up to the tenth tier and a staff that amplified all magic that used mana and reduced consumption to thirty percent. It was by far her favourite weapon.

When she finally began to move her surroundings suddenly broke out in chaos as all the trolls tried to distance themselves from her. She ignored them and walked over to the pen where the humans and demi-human were. They all looked up at in wonder and those with high intelligence had pleading eyes. With a sigh Shiva went into her angel form and hovered above them.

The light of high level angels like Seraphim, Cherubim and Thrones had healing properties. Although the effect did not do much for middle and higher levelled individuals it was very effective when shone on low levelled beings. All the wounds of the people were healed instantly. There was no trace of even the fresh ones they had recently inflicted on each other during the scramble. Shiva glided out of the pen's air space and returned to her human form. Imotep had long since returned to a staff and had been stuffed back into Shiva's item box. However, that did not mean she was going to let monsters who were capable of such monstrosity get away. None of them would escape.

"Michael, kill them all! Let none but the youngest live. These creatures are a blight upon this world. Wipe them out!"

-END-

 **Character Stats**

 _Heteromorphic Races_

Jophiel: The Beautiful Mistress of Nightmares

Job: One of the Seven Archangels, Virtue of Charity

Alignment: Neutral, Sense of Justice: 0

Racial Level: Angel 5

Archangel 5

Principality 5

Virtue 10

Seraph 10

Job Level: Psychic 10

Seer 10

Illusionist 15

Master Illusionist 15

Puppeteer 10

Puppet Master 5

Racial Level: 35, Job Level: 65, Total Level: 100

Ability Charts

HP: 70, MP: 100, PHYATK: 30, PHYDEF: 85, AGI: 50, MAGATK: 75, MAGDEF: 95, RESIST: 95, SPECIAL: 80

#####

 _Heteromorphic Races_

Raphael: The Watchman

Job: One of the Sven Archangels, Virtue of Diligence

Alignment: Good, Sense of Justice: 200

Racial Level: Angel 10

Archangel 5

Power 10

Seraph 10

Job Level: Scout 15

Gambler 5

Assassin 10

Ninja 10

Archer 15

Sniper 10

Racial Level: 35, Job Level: 65

Ability Charts

HP: 80, MP: 10, PHYATK: 80, PHYDEF: 80, AGI: 100, MAGATK: 50, MAGDEF: 70, RESIST: 90, SPECIAL: 85

* * *

 _Haha, Happy New Year to all! Thanks for reading this fanfic._


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 4: Shadow Dragon**

"AAAARGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!"

That was the sound of a troll choking on his own blood. When Michael had removed his sword from his throat his gash did not heal as expected. Excalibur, apart from dealing devastating holy damage, cancelled out regeneration and low-level healing spells. The troll died after a few seconds of agonising pain.

 _That should be the last of them,_ Michael thought to himself as he looked around. The entire village was dyed red with blood. There were massive bodies littered everywhere, Michael counted at least forty of them. As his _father_ had ordered, all the trolls who were too young to be considered dangerous to those they had freed were spared. They were only six in total, four males, two females. Michael did not think they could not survive on their own if left behind.

"Chichi-ue, what do we do with about the younglings?"

When Michael had slain the Trolls he had done so without hesitating and felt no remorse for what he had done. It was not because the trolls were monsters, only humans and their ilk viewed demi-humans as such and if one used the same kind of logic then Michael, a heteromorph, was an even bigger monster. No, the reason he felt no remorse was because what he had done was justice. The trolls had been practicing a despicable act worse than slavery. Even farmers did not treat their life stock so inhumanely. However, Michael was not someone who believed the sins of the parent were inherited by the child. The troll younglings did not deserve to suffer because of their parent's mistake.

The ruler of Zion gave him a faint smile, one that did not reach her eyes. "You truly are a kind-hearted person Michael. I'm glad you turned out to be the person I intended to create."

These words made Michael's heart leap with joy. To be told something like that to by his father, his creator, there was nothing that would make him even more proud. He was so shocked and so happy at the same time that he stuttered for the first time.

"I- I'm- your words honour me Chichi-ue."

"I'm glad they do," his _father_ replied. "We'll take them along with the humans and the beastmen. The orcs and goblins are too dumb to take along. They can take care of themselves."

Originally Shiva had intended to leave the young trolls with them but after Michael voiced his concern she realised that the younglings wouldn't survive minutes after she and Michael left. The goblins and orcs were lacking in the intelligence department, but they were not dumb enough to not know what revenge was. As soon as she and Michael left the trolls would have been slaughtered and they would have been the ones roasting over a spit fire instead.

 _But damn,_ Shiva thought to herself as she looked at the cowering figures of the trolls. Although they were still young for trolls most of them were taller than her. _And they're so ugly!_

As a former human Shiva had a human sense of aesthetics. To her elves were beautiful, goblins were ugly and dragons were majestic. Creatures like trolls were much worse than goblins and added to that they smelled really bad. _I can't have such a smell polluting Zion._ She searched her memory for and appropriate spell to rid herself of their foul odour. The only one that that came to mind was a 4th Tier spell called [Purify]. It was a spell that dispelled poison gas. Angels were immune to the effects of poison, however, a druid like Shiva needed such a spell in case she encountered someone who used plant killing poison. It had happened before, and she would have died if not for her guildmate Echidna.

 _This should work like a charm,_ she thought as she cast it.

However, [Purify] was a spell that purified the air and got rid of toxins. It could do nothing against a natural stench like that of the trolls as long as it was not harmful. After a minute of going through her spell list to see if there was another more promising spell she acknowledged that such magic did not exist in Yggdrasil. There was no sense of smell back in the game so such magic would be useless. _I guess there's nothing that can be done for now,_ she thought with a sigh.

"Let's get back to Zion," she said, and opened a [Gate].

* * *

"Aaaaaahhh!" sighed Uriel in obvious pleasure.

She was currently resting in a hot spring somewhere on the first floor. For someone as hyperactive as she such an activity had never appealed to her, until her older sister had decided to drag her and Sariel to Eden for a bit of _relaxation._ When they had explained their reason for visiting the gardens Kuro, the sacred beast in charge of the water sources in Eden, was not happy. He probably would have complained if it were someone else, however, he did not have the guts to say no to Jophiel. Of all the beings created by the Elohim the only one who did not cower before Jophiel was her older brother Michael and his control on her was shaky at best.

"We should do this more often," Sariel muttered with her eyes closed.

Originally she had been reluctant to go anywhere with Uriel, who always made fun of her at every opportunity, but her big sister assured her that Uriel would not be bothering her. Even the rowdy Uriel wouldn't dare disobey their older sister so in the end she decided to come. To say the least she was glad she tagged along.

"Didn't Shiva-sama leave Zion in your care Archangels-sama? Are you sure you should be here?"

The person that asked that question did so in a playful voice. She had incredibly pale skin with short shaggy white hair and shining emerald eyes. On top her head was a pair of feline ears and her hands, which rested atop a pair of rocks, were covered in short white hair that ran from her elbow. At the ends of her fingers were claws instead of nails. Her most prominent feature was the black stripes that covered her skin and hair.

"Chichi-ue said we can slack off as long as we want," Jophiel said. "As long as we are ready when trouble comes it's fine, so there's no need to worry Shiro-san."

"I know Shiva-sama told you to relax but won't she be mad that we're slacking off this much?" Shiro asked, starting to get worried.

"Relax Shiro-san," Uriel said cheerfully. "Chichi-ue is not a strict person. It's more likely that Killjoy will have a tantrum than Chichi-ue."

"Seriously," Jophiel muttered in agreement. "That guy doesn't know how to relax."

By Killjoy they were of course referring to Michael. Perhaps it was because in the absence of the Elohim he was in charge of Zion, but the leader of the Archangels really had no idea what the word relaxing entailed. He was always so serious about everything. All who were present tried to picture him taking a break; almost everyone snickered. It was just wrong.

"By the way," Jophiel continued by changing the subject. Her attention shifted to a woman with reddish skin and really messy looking red hair. If one looked closely they would see that the hair was actually feathers. Much smaller ones covered the entirety of her arms. "I've always wondered Akai-san. With your different physiologies, how do you and Ao-kun do it?"

And suddenly Akai's already red complexion became even redder. Everyone else soon followed after when they realised what the Archangel meant. Shiro had an awkward smile that was trying to hide her embarrassment. Uriel was gaping at her older sister in shock, her face tomato red and Sariel's face was heating up. You could practically see steam coming out of her ears.

"Onee-sama!" Sariel exclaimed. "How can you ask something like that, and with such a straight face?"

At the same time she had begun to speak Akai was already denying Jophiel's intention.

"Tha- tha- that- It's personal!" she yelled with her eyes closed. A second later she submerged her whole body up to her eyes and mumbled something that sounded like, "We've never done it before."

The shocking revelation almost immediately had everyone asking questions nonstop after a few gasps. Poor Akai was constantly looking left and right, her eyes desperately screaming _save me!_ Luck for her a moment later Jophiel held up her hand to silence everyone. However, the playful mood was gone, for the Archangel now wore a serious air around her. It seemed she had gotten a message, which she silently listened to. After a while she ended it by saying, "I'll be right there." Then she stood up, revealing her exquisite nude body to all.

The name Jophiel meant _Beauty of God_ and it was no wonder she was recognized as the most beautiful being in all of Zion. When Shiva created her she took all the compliments she knew and applied them to her. She gave her large round sparkling eyes that made starlight look dim, long indigo hair with a silky texture, a perfect hourglass figure and a face that made flowers ashamed to bloom in her presence. Basically she had imagined the most beautiful woman she could think of, so beautiful that even the female members of her guild could do not but stare in wonder. If Jophiel's serious mood had not transferred to the other females with her they would have probably lost themselves gazing at her form.

"Raphael just messaged me," she revealed. "It seems he caught something interesting. Why don't we go outside and see for ourselves?"

* * *

Blacker than Night. Scarier than Death. He who casts a shadow on Darkness itself. These were the words used to describe Niahoggr D'zar. Whenever his wings darken the skies nations fell to ruin, his roar reaped fear from even his own kind and whenever he used his breath there was always death. That was why he was dubbed the Shadow Dragon Lord. Even among his own kind he was among the strongest.

And then one day two fleas entered his lair wearing the most valuable garments he had ever sniffed. Apparently all they wanted was information. Being a dragon, he offered to answer all their questions if they gave him their garments and when they refused he became forceful and told them they had no choice if they wanted to leave the place alive. That was when he discovered that those fleas were more powerful than anything he had ever seen. Not only did they manage to survive his lethal breath attack, the female had nearly killed him with one hit from a flaming sword that appeared out of thin air. Then she dragged his over thirty metres and twenty tonne body out of the cave onto the open plains where more of them waited. Unlike the two who came had entered his lair these were the size of giants. Each of them were over three metres wearing white robes and with either a glowing sword or a sceptre. They carried him of eastwards until they came upon a flying castle. Niahoggr had seen a flying structure before, but it had been a monstrous structure, nothing compared to the radiance of this castle.

"Let's drop him here," the male he had first encountered said. "Onee-sama is on the way and I've already informed Gabriel to meet us here as well."

The next moment the male's six wings and the ring floating atop his head disappeared. The bright light that had encircled him vanished. His appearance was now simply that of a human. Similarly the four black wings of the female vanished. The feline ears atop her head disappeared and a pair of pointy ones grew out of the sides of her head. She looked like a Dark Elf now.

The transformation of the two beings completely shocked Niahoggr. Although he had never met creatures like them before he had come into contact with similar beings before. He could tell by their looks and smell that they were angels. The thing that shocked him about them was the fact that could adapt a humanoid appearance so easily. _Can angels do that?_ The humans of the Slane Theocracy claimed angels were the messengers of their gods and they often used them in battle. However, no matter how many of their battles he had observed, some which he had participated in, he had never seen an angel turn into a human. Today was also the first day he had heard them speak. His eyes moved to the other nine angels, however, they remained hovering around him and no change came over them.

The next moment something unprecedented happened. First Niahoggr felt it, a distortion in the air. It was as if the wind was gathering at a single point before violently dispersing. Space was bent where the air gathered and before his eyes a rip appeared and widened like some sort of gateway opening. Inside this gate was complete darkness, such that even he, a king among the world's strongest race, could not see a single thing beyond it. However, there must have been because in the next instant a figure appeared from the gate.

It was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen. Unlike some dragons, Niahoggr preferred to consort with the females of his own kind and saw no beauty in the other races, but the woman who had just stepped out of the gate radiated with a beauty he had never seen before. It was clearly not of this world.

Behind her appeared four other females with beauty of a lesser quality. There was one with a beastly smell about her. She had white hair with and was covered in stripes. The next smelled like ash, a peculiar smell for someone with feathers for hair. The third girl, who appeared to be younger than the rest of them, wore a white mage's robes and the last person had giant sword on her back and hunger in her golden orbs. Among all who appeared before him he regarded her as the most dangerous of all.

"Well... this certainly is interesting." The first woman's voice was what you would expect from a creature that possessed divine beauty. Her gaze turned to the creatures that had caught him. "However, I must wonder why you have brought him here?"

"Chichi-ue has charged us with learning more about this world," The male, who had introduced himself as Raphael when they had first met, replied. "I have searched everywhere within three hundred kilometres of Zion."

"So you want me to get information out of him?" the beautiful female said in understanding. Her gaze scrutinized the dragon for a while. She frowned a second later. "Why have you hurt him so badly?"

"That was my doing Jophiel-sama," The female who had introduced herself as Penemue spoke up. "I tried to subdue him and overdid it."

"No worries," Jophiel said calmly, her face returning to normal. "I assume you have already informed Gabriel?"

"Yes Onee-sama," Raphael answered. "He'll be here shortly."

With a nod, Jophiel walked past him and approached Niahoggr. She stopped before his head, which was wider than she was tall, and patted it. Then she bent over and looked into his gigantic eye, trying to ease him with a gentle smile. It did not ease the dragon's tension though. Gentle her smile might be, nonaggressive her posture might be, nonthreatening her eyes might be, Niahoggr's instincts senses screamed _DANGEROUS_ when she he gazed at her.

"My name is Jophiel," she said softly, her smile getting warmer as she let go of him and curtsied. "We'll be very good friends for the next hour so please take care of me."

There was a darker meaning to her words. Niahoggr's veins froze at the thought of being left alone with this woman.

At that moment a creature that by human standards was very young appeared. The attire he wore was just as valuable as that of everyone present. The white priest robes he wore told the dragon that this person was a healer. This must be the person Raphael had called.

"Ralph-niisan, Pen-san, Uri-neesan, Sari-neesan, Shiro-san, Akai-san, Onee-sama..." When he was done greeting everyone his eyes shot over to Niahoggr. "Ah, Dragon-san. That's why you called me?"

"Yes," Jophiel said. "We plan on getting information from him. Can you please fix him?"

"Hai," the young boy replied with a nod. He raised his hand and chanted a spell. [Grand Healing]. The pain Niahoggr felt since Penemue had struck him disappeared. His body, which had been too numb to move, regained feeling. Niahoggr was amazed. He had never heard of a healing spell that was able to completely heal injuries in one go. Magic of this calibre was only encountered in stories. The fact that this small creature was able to cast it so easily scared him. They all scared him. These creatures were not of this world, the last time creatures from another world appeared in Niahoggr's world nations were crushed and all races banded together to repel the vile existences, those known today as the Demon Gods.

The moment the glow of the young boy's spell faded he spread his wings and took off the ground. He was not going to remain in the company of these monsters. While he rose into the air he was already planning on his next step. Once he escaped from these creature he would head straight west, to him, the most revered dragon of all. Then he would tell him about these creatures who had the potential to wreak as much havoc as the Demon Gods. If there was someone alive who could do something about this situation it would be him.

Unfortunately he never rose above a metre. His body had hardly left the ground when he felt a huge weight on his back. He felt claws dig into his back as he was dragged back to the ground. Then ,suddenly metal came from the ground and restrained him, preventing him from escaping. Niahoggr struggled and broke free. He opened his maw to unleash his breath attack. Before he could however, the female with the giant sword landed on his snout and thrust it downwards, impaling him. This was the most pain he had experienced so far and he tried to writhe out of it but he was hit with another dilemma. His body would not move. No matter how many messages he sent to his muscles they remained still.

"Uri-chan, Shiro-chan," Jophiel's voice came from in front of him. "Everything is under control. You can leave him alone now."

The woman pulled her sword out of his snout and jumped off. The the weight on his back disappeared as a gigantic white tiger landed before him. It stood at least four metres high and was about twice as long. There had been reluctance in the action of both of them and the way they looked at him screamed murder. The looks ceased when Jophiel stepped in front of them. Niahoggr spotted thin transparent threads jutting out of her fingertips, extending to him. Without being told he knew that those strings were the ones restraining him.

"Please forgive them," Jophiel said with a slight bow. "Uri-chan was made with an urge to kill dragons and apart from our resident dragons Shiro-chan can't stand any of your kind. Your species are natural enemies. Now..." She stepped even closer. There was something he did not like in her expression. "Let us beg-"

"What is going on here? "

The new voice attracted everyone present. Before Niahoggr could make out what was happening everyone present knelt and bowed their heads, even the nine angels that had been floating in the sky, while muttering "Chichi-ue" or "Shiva-sama." Apparently this creature, a female, was someone's father.

In front of him a gateway like the previous one had opened and out spewed a female in a white suit. Behind her was a male in white armour followed by various races; humans, trolls and beastmen. Each of them was stared at the scene that greeted them in bewilderment. The female, who had asked the questioned, regained her composure. She sighed loudly and shook her head, interrupting Jophiel who was about to respond to her question.

"You know what, forget it," she said. "I'm going back to Zion. I expect a full report of this."

The next instant she vanished. Everyone got up after that.

"Since you all have so much free time you can take care of them," the male said, pointing at the people behind him. " Sariel and Gabriel, you will handle the humans. Raphael and Penemue, the beastmen are your responsibility. Akai and Shiro take care of the trollings. Chichi-ue doesn't like the way they smell so be sure to wash them. Jophiel, I assume you're busy with that dragon so I'll leave you out of it. The rest of you return to your posts immediately. I will not tolerate slacking off." He frowned and looked up at the fortress. "That fool is sleeping on top of Ramiel's tower when he should be on duty," he said in with an angry tone.

Just like the female before him he vanished, leaving them in silence.

"You were right Jophiel-sama," the feathered girl said in wonder. "He really needs a vacation."

Jophiel smiled and told them to get to their tasks. Then she turned to Niahoggr, an evil glint in her eye.

"Now, where were we?"

* * *

"So what have you learned?"

Shiva sat on the Throne. She was in her true form and was again enduring her feathers poking into her back. Seraph's Lance rested on her lap.

"Chichi-ue. By questioning both the dragon and the humans and beastmen we have gain a lot of knowledge about this word," Jophiel said with her head lowered.

In front of the throne the Archangel Jophiel knelt. She had been tasked with linking all the information they had gotten from the dragon, the humans and the beastmen so she could present clearer picture to Shiva. On the sides of the throne, as always, stood Michael and Ein.

"I would like to hear what you have learned," Shiva pressed on.

"Certainly."

According to what Jophiel had learned they were in located in what was known as the Gratis Plains. Apart from scattered demi-human tribes here and there were no major civilizations. East and south-east of the Plains the Troll and Minotaur Kingdoms lay. In the south-west there was no mountain range and there the Beastman Kingdom and the first human kingdom, the Draconic Kingdom could be found. Why a kingdom a humans was called Draconic Kingdom was apparently because it was founded by a dragon and even though that dragon had left long ago they still continued to call it so in reverance to him. Apparently the two kingdoms had been warring for a while. While listening to Jophiel Shiva made a decision.

It had not even been a day since Zion was transported to this world and she was already tired of ruling. She had been straining herself all the time, imitating hers sister and characters she had read about in fantasy novels. However, it was tiring to maintain a regal appearance. _And these stupid wings, damn you Onee-chan!_ This was the first time she had ever cursed her sister and it was all because of this completely four dimensional- no tenth dimensional situation. She was going to run away from her duty once more, but this time she would leave the person most suitable for rulership in charge.

"I would like to visit this Dragon Kingdom," she declared. "Inform Ramiel and tell him that he is to accompany me. Jophiel, have one of your subordinates monitor me and station five angels that can use [Lack of Presence] near me. However..." she turned to look at Michael, he needed to hear what she was going to say more than anyone. Everyone considered Uriel a hard case, but he was the most stubborn person she had created. He was unbendable. The only reason he would back down from trying to keep her safe was because he was somewhat satisfied she with her protection detail. Somewhat, never wholly satisfied "No one moves in until I say so."

"Yes, Chichi-ue." This reply came not only from Michael and Jophiel but from Ein as well. Jophiel further posted a question. "What should we do about the dragon and the others?"

"Hm," Shiva thought for a while. A minute later she exclaimed in what appeared to be a eureka moment. "If the humans want leave I'll drop them off on my way. Shiro will have to drop off the Beastmen though." From what she had just heard the creatures of this world were prejudiced against other races. In order to avoid conflict Shiro, the only person remotely resembling a beastman had to escort them. "The young trolls have nowhere to go so they'll be staying with us. As for the dragon, he'scoming with me."

"Understood," Jophiel responded.

Of course she would not be taking the dragon in its true form. From what he had gathered the average strength in this world was so low the dragon was considered a godly existence. Unfortunately the dragon was unable to take a human form, but apparently had an ability that would come in handy in such situations.

The thought of going visiting the Draconic Kingdom excited Shiva. _I wonder how the humans of this world live._

-END-

 **Character Stats**

 _Heteromorphic Races_

Ramiel: The Calm Spear of Destruction

Job: One of the Seven Archangels, Virtue of Patience

Alignment: Great Good, Sense of Justice: 400

Racial Level: Angel 10

Archangel 5

Power 10

Seraph 10

Job Level: Warrior 10

Spearman 15

Master Spearman 15

Knight 15

Warlord 10

Racial Level: 35, Job Level: 65. Total Level: 100

Ability Charts

HP: 100, MP: 10, PHYATK: 95, PHYDEF: 95, AGI: 80, MAGATK: 5, MAGDEF: 80, RESIST: 90, SPECIAL: 70

####

 _Heteromorphic Races_

Gabriel: The Light of Zion

Job: One of the seven Archangels, Virtue of Kindness

Alignment: Extreme Good

Racial Level: Angel 10

Archangel 10

Dominion 10

Seraph 10

Job Level: Priest 15

High Priest 15

Caster 10

Healer 10

Master Healer 10

Racial Level: 40, Job Level: 60, Total Level: 100

Ability Charts

HP: 65, MP: 100, PHYATK: 10, PHYDEF: 90, AGI: 80, MAGATK: 80, MAGDEF: 95, RESIST: 100, SPECIAL: 100

* * *

 _I've tweaked chapter 3 a bit, nohthing to concern yourself with though. Thanks for the insight PervageSageChuck_


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 5: The Dragon Kingdom**

With the current situation in the Draconic Kingdom many have come to the Capital seeking refuge. Everyday well over a thousand people would line up at the city gate in search for asylum and every day the guards stationed there haVE to search them in order to make sure they posed no danger to the city. It was a time consuming job that could last from dawn well into the night. As guarding the city gates has become very unpopular, every soldier dreaded the day they had to handle the influx of refugees.

The old captain of the city guards sighed as he looked at the line in front of him. Hundreds- no, thousands of people had gathered again with their belongings. He was in charge of clearing them for entry and unlike the normal soldiers he was stationed at the gate everyday without rest. Since the beastmen invasion began his hand had long since gone numb from scribbling the names of everyone who was granted entry. Although he complained every night to his wife he did not blame the people for making his job harder. The situation in the kingdom has grown more desperate with each passing day. The number of people coming to the capital in search for asylum would only grow from here on.

The refuge seekers were usually distinguishable even in the city. Those who had borne witness to the carnage rout by the beastmen wore haunted expressions and those who didn't bore frightened ones. You could usually tell from the dark rings under their eyes that they had not slept days because they of their rushed journey to get away from the vile fiends. Their clothes were always dirty and their eyes pleaded with the captain's in order to be let through. That said, the people in front of him right now looked nothing like refugees.

Right now the captain was interviewing a trio who were too well off to be refugees. They were two men and a young woman of about eighteen.

The first man was a giant who stood nearly two metres. He had orange spiky hair and almond eyes with a handsome beardless face that would have women swooning over him. He wore a red chainmail shirt, greaves and metal boots, all seemingly made from the same metal. At the waist a short sword was fastened while a black spear and shield rested on his back. This man had a hardened expression of an experienced warrior. He looked like someone who would rather die than retreat, which is why it was so hard to believe that he would be seeking refuge from the beastmen invasion.

The second man was just over 180 centimetres. He looked quite average compared to the other two with his black hair and eyes. His twenty-something year old face spotted a neatly trimmed beard. He was covered neck to toes in blue armour that the captain recognized as being made of adamantite. A sword and sheath made from the same metal hung at his sides.

The young woman was dark skinned with short white hair and crimson eyes. Unlike the other two who seemed to be dressed for battle she wore short black shorts and thick leather boots. She wore a white jacket that was left open, revealing some kind of bodice that covered her only from neck to diaphragm. Of course the man did not know that this was a sports bra, it did not exist in this world. On her hands he spotted a pair of black gloves. He spotted a pair of metal batons with two curved prongs each jutting out of their handles strapped in an X on her lower back.

Because of her peculiar choice of clothing he had originally thought she was an Adventurer, but soon changed his mind after seeing her careless pouty expression. Before him stood someone who held an air of entitlement. From her attitude it was clear she was the leader of the trio. Her pouting was probably from the fact that she had to stand in line for hours before he got to them. The fact that she did not complain to him about it relieved the captain. In his years as a city guard he had seen different types of people come and go. This girl was one of the rare cases... a noble playing at being an Adventurer, trying to sound like a brute by referring to herself with the masculine _ore_. She was probably here to register with the Guild.

"We are done Ojou-sama," he said polite. "You can enter the city now."

"Is that so?" the girl responded with a look of relief. "Okay then. Ramiel and Nia, let's go."

The captain of watched their backs as they entered the gate. When they were gone he looked down at the name he had written on the paper, _Shiva._ He had a daughter her age and offered a silent prayer to the gods for her sake. _Let her not go charging into battle, she won't survive._

* * *

"Thank goodness it's finally over," Shiva said as she entered the city.

They had arrived early in the morning and only now, close to noon were they permitted entry. It seems for every traveller they required documents with a person's personal information and when the person in question lacked those they would be detained until the guards have gotten all there is to know about them and issued new documents. It was a tedious affair. _We should have just teleported into the city, would have saved a lot of time._

Shiva looked up ahead and spotted two men standing in the middle of the street. They beheld panicky expressions and were jumpy every time someone got close to them. These men had clearly gone through a traumatic experience. They were those who had been treated as livestock by the trolls. The third person, the woman, had decided to stay behind in Zion and was being taken care of by the humans situated in Jerusalem.

The men had entered before Shiva, Ramiel and Niahoggr and had waited for them.

"Are you okay?" She asked them. When they nodded in an unconvincing manner Shiva sighed. She felt sorry for them. They had gone through so much pain and suffering. If she were to go through the same thing she would probably have committed suicide. She would not have been able to live from day to day in a literal pen being treated like an animal, fearing if today would be the day she would be killed and eaten. Of course Jophiel had altered most of their memories so most of the trauma had been negated.

"Okay," Shiva said. "Let's get on with business."

She placed herself between Ramiel and Niahoggr in order to avoid being seen. Then she reached into her Item Box and pulled out a backpack.

An hour later, with the help of the locals, the five of them entered the bank of the kingdom. There they met a pretty woman with a smile too wide to not be forced at the receptionist. "Good afternoon," she greeted them. "Welcome to this fine establishment. How may I help you?"

"We would like to exchange our ingots for money," Shiva replied, unslinging her backpack from her shoulders and opening it, displaying its contents to the receptionist. The woman's jaw dropped when she saw the gold bars spilling from the backpack. Without another word she rushed from her desk and came back a minute later with a plump middle-aged man trailing her.

"I'm the manager of this bank," was the first thing he said to them. There was a shrewd look in his eyes as he rubbed his hands together in a greedy manner. "Can we talk in my office?"

"Sure," Shiva replied. She signalled her companions to stay put and followed the manager, backpack in hand. She followed the man through a series of corridors until he they came to what seemed like the last door. The man turned to her, told her they were there and invited her in. About half a minute later they were both seated across each other with the contacts of the backpack on the table.

"This is a lot of gold," he began. "May I ask where you got it?"

"Family savings," Shiva replied. "How much is it worth?"

The truth was that she had taken iron bars and asked Shiro to transmute them. They had needed a way to get their hands on the money of this world so Shiva had requested they use the Sacred Beast's magic instead of exchanging items from the treasury. They might come in handy some other time. On the table rested twenty gold bars of about one five kilograms. Looking at the greedy face of the bank manager she knew he would try to rip her off, not that she minded, but if he took it too far she would tear him a new one.

"200 gold," the manager replied.

Shiva sighed in disappointment. She stood up and began gathering the ingots, returning them to the backpack. "I guess I'll have to go sell my wares somewhere else."

"P-p-please wait a minute miss!" the manager called out before she could leave. Shiva of course had not been planning on leaving. She had gambled on the fact that he would call her and it paid off. Truth is, she had nowhere else to go. She didn't know of another place besides the bank. So when the manager called for her to wait she didn't hesitate to do so. "I'm listening," she said. "And next time you pull such a stunt I'm seriously out of here."

When she met Ramiel, Niahoggr and the two humans she had managed to squeeze five hundred gold out of the manager. She still felt like it was not the correct amount but she didn't really care. If she wanted more money she would just make Shiro transmute more iron. "Let's go" she ordered.

It was in the streets a few blocks away that Shiva decided to part with the two men by giving them three fifths of the gold she'd gotten from the bank. After about ten minutes of them weeping joyously and thanking her, one of them almost exposing her by foolishly calling her _Tenshi-sama,_ she saw them off with a wide smile. In the real world she had always heard the phrase _giving is better than receiving_ (which in her case was hypocritical since many only used it when they want something), however it was only at the moment the men were thanking her that she truly understood the saying. The knowledge of knowing you had affected someone's life for the better brought an incredible feeling. Seeing how happy she had made them almost brought tears to her eyes as well.

"Chichi-ue?" Ramiel called to her after the men had disappeared. "Where to now?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Shiva asked with a glint in her eyes. "We buy some food!" she yelled as she pumped her fist in the air.

Ever since she had come to this word she had yet to eat food of any kind. Having turned into one a being that did not require sustenance she had not given it much thought until this morning when she had to stand in line to get into the city. Around noon some people started taking out the lunch and the smell almost had her drooling. It seems in this world meat was like a staple food. Back on Earth a kilogram could cost you more than your whole month's salary. Apart from humans and insects all animals were considered endangered and were in captivity. Her eyes had almost popped out when she saw people treating what would be considered a super rare delicacy in her world like it was food they ate every day. She wanted to eat it. Even thought she had no need for food it did not mean she could not eat anything, she had a stomach after all.

She entered the most expensive inn she could find and booked two rooms, one for herself and another for Ramiel and Nia. She would be staying in the city a for few days. "And please bring us lunch as well, the best meat dish you have."

She joined Ramiel and Niahoggr at a table in the common room. No one spoke until the food was placed on the table. Without wasting time Shiva cut a piece of her meat and put it in her mouth. Then-

"Mmmm... sho good!" she exclaimed while chewing. It was like a piece of heaven had been dropped on her tongue. The way it stimulated her taste buds was unreal, clearly the best meal she had ever had in her entire life. Originally she had plan on using the table manners that her sister had beaten into her after her parents failed but thoughts of that flew out the moment she tasted the meat. She felt everyone's eyes on her as she grabbed the meat with her hands and tore at it like a wild beast. Then she grabbed Ramiel and Niahoggr's plates and repeated the act. Ramiel didn't seem to mind and Niahoggr's current body was a golem he was controlling using his weird unknown magic (She was going to question him on that when they returned). She felt sorry for him not being able to eat in his current state.

After finishing she suddenly got serious. "Nia-san, does the dragon who founded this country still live?"

"Yes," Niahoggr answered. There was a note of caution in his voice, as if he was watching his tone not to anger her. "However I do not know where he resides. Unlike me he is perfectly capable of blending in with humans."

"Is that so? What a shame." She paused for a second before she asked the next question. "Between the two of you who is stronger?"

Being that the body he currently occupied was made of adamantite, somehow Niahoggr was able to snort in it. He remained silent for half a minute before he responded. "It shames me to admit that he is stronger than I am?"

"Oh, what level is he?"

"I am not sure, however, I am certain his level exceeds two hundred."

"WHAT!"

Shiva felt her heart beat rapidly in panic. _This is bad. Shit! I got too careless after learning the average level in this world was low. I should have gotten more information._ Level 200? That was something beyond her imagination. In Yggdrasil the level cap for every monster, no matter how strong, was 100. How strong would a level 200 being be? Equivalent to five World-Class disasters? Ten? How powerful was its normal attack, the level of a Twenty? She wouldn't stand a chance against such a creature, Zion wouldn't stand a chance against it.

"Ramiel, we're withdrawing immediately," Shiva said firmly, standing up and preparing to open a Gate.

Ramiel didn't argue. The moment he had heard about a dragon being over level 200 hundred he had suddenly found himself standing next to his creator, eyes surveying the room for threats. His spear was now in his hands and Shiva noticed it was not the one he had been carrying all morning but his God-Level red spear. "Yes Chichi-ue," he replied. "This place isn't safe for you."

"You're right. There's no way we can win against a monster with a level of 200." She was going to open the Gate, when Niahoggr's confused voice reached her ears.

"What are you talking about? The two of you will be able to beat him. Your levels are way above his."

"Eh!"

This was all Shiva was able to say as she stopped short of opening the Gate. Niahoggr had lost her.

"What do you mean we're above level 200? We're only level 100."

"That's not possible," Niahoggr replied, there was something strange in his voice. "My level is 192 so your level is definitely higher. In fact, I have never seen beings as strong as you before."

"Huh?" She thought about what he had just said. Niahoggr, a dragon with a level of 64, claimed that he was level 192 and that hers and Ramiel's level's were far above 200. The only way that was possible is if there existed a different levelling system in this world. Coming to that conclusion she let out a breath of relief. _There is nothing to worry about in the end._ When she realised how she had reacted and how many people had witnessed it she suddenly felt her cheeks go red with anger and embarrassment.

Five minutes later they were walking down the main street. Shiva had stormed out of the inn as soon as she could and didn't plan on going back for a while. She had made a spectacle of herself in front of those people. First the food, then the overreaction. She didn't know if she wanted to see them anytime soon. Because she didn't need to sleep and eat she was contemplating staying out all night.

"Where do we go now Chichi-ue," Ramiel asked.

"Why don't we separate for now?" she replied. "You and Nia visit the Adventurers and see what you can learn. I'm visiting the church."

Shiva knew nothing about the religion of this world, something that would make her former guildmate Religious Nut look on with disappointment. No matter what world religion is a powerful thing. It could gather more people faster than monarchs to fight for its cause. Many people in the past did things in the name of their gods. Whether good or bad, people will do anything in the name of religion. The Inquisitions, the Crusades; in this medieval setting she found herself in she didn't doubt the Church could do such a thing. One of the countries in the vicinity was founded on religion after all.

"Oh, and take this," she threw a pair of glass at him. These were translating glasses, though Shiva did not know if they really worked or not. When she had put them on earlier to at the city gate but there hadn't been any change like in the game. She couldn't rule out the possibility that they didn't work though. She suspected that the reason they had not worked for her was because she could read the language. As a Psychic Jophiel was excellent with memory magic, so much so that she could extract not only memories but also knowledge from a person's mind. The downside of all this of course was that it had a large mana drain. If not done properly or mana is depleted while the magic is being used on someone the chances of the person's mind being damaged were high. Shiva had ordered Jophiel to do it because she was in a hurry and didn't have time to sit down learning to read a new language; English and Katakana had been hard enough. She also didn't want to wear glasses every time she had to read something. Having to do it in one world was bad enough. "I'll be off then. Oh," she leaned into Ramiel and whispered. "Don't call me Chichi-ue while we are here. You'll make people look at us in a weird way. Call me Ojou-sama or something else."

With that she left them and headed to the church building. It looked like a typical European church from the middle ages. Inside the building there were around two dozen rows of wooden chairs on each side of the room and six altars at the front. Further to the sides there were stone beds, some with sickly people lying on them. There were priest tending to those people, casting the 2nd Tier spell [Heal]. Shiva's eyes left the people and moved to the front. She walked on and sat in the front row, staring at the altars.

"My daughter, have you come to pray?" came a voice from behind her. A second later a priest in white red robes stood in front of her.

"I have come seeking knowledge Father," she said replied. This was usually how people in fantasy novels spoke to priests. Hopefully she was did it properly.

It seems she had said the right thing because his expression remained kind and his eyes remained soft. "Pray tell, what would you like to know?"

"I would like to know of the glory of the gods."

"Ahhh," a smile graced his face. He sat next to her with a glint in his eyes. "Where should I begin?"

"If it doesn't trouble you much then could you please start from the very beginning?" Shiva told him. "My parents neglected to teach me about the gods."

The priest began without saying delay. "In an age when mankind's future was uncertain..."

Shiva listened to the priest rant for three hours, asking questions here and there. According to him the Six Great Gods descended from Heaven six hundred years ago to save mankind. Most of what the priest said went into one ear and out of the other but she remembered the important stuff. The Six Great Gods as the name implied, were six. Their names were not known to any but the highest ranking individuals in the Slane Theocracy, the country that was founded by them. Most people only knew them by their spheres. God of Fire, God of Water, God of Wind, God of Earth, God of Life and God of Death. It seems they represented the six elements of water, earth, fire, air, aether and nether. They accomplished many things before they ascended back into the heavens, the most interesting being the introduction of the current magic system.

Shiva's ears perked up at this. Shiva had had doubts about the existence of the Six Great Gods until the priest mentioned this. She had not been blind to the fact that all magic she had seen so far was Yggdrasil magic, but she had not thought much about it until she heard that. Normally in fantasy novels where two worlds possessed the same knowledge or skills there was common factor. _Could it be?_ Maybe the reason the ranked magic system also existed in this world was because someone like her had introduced it. _I have to check what kind of spells exist in this world._

"I just remembered something I should have done," she suddenly said, getting to her feet. "I need to get to the Mages Guild. Thank you for your time Father. Bye."

With that she rushed out of the church, not looking back once.

* * *

The little girl on the throne sighed. "This is exhausting."

"Please bear with it your majesty," the man standing at her side mumbled to her. "Just one more meeting and you're done or the day. I am certain you won't find this one as exhausting as the others."

"Oh, is it them?"

The inclusion of five former Black Scripture members the elite team she wanted to strike at the Beastman General was almost finished. With the two who she would be meeting next the elite team she would send to the forefront of the battle field against the beastmen was complete.

In the last week Draudiron Oriculus had been more stressed than she had ever been in all her years as a ruler. If she reverted to her original form she was sure there would be deep worry lines on her forehead. The Beastmen Army had captured their fourth city and were now on route to the capital with an estimated arrival time of 20 hours. The assembled team would be her last chance to halt the advance. After that she would have no choice but to resort to wild magic.

Draudiron was trying to avoid that situation as much as possible. To use the required amount she would probably have to sacrifice everyone in the city. Having to make such a decision filled her with dread. There would be no country if she went through with it. She would be massacring her own subjects. She could already imagine the epithets future scholars would attach to her name. _Genocidal Queen, Draudiron the Red._ There were already two rulers in the area who made names for themselves by massacring countless people. There was no need for a third one.

The doors to the throne room opened and in stepped two figures. The first was a huge muscular figure that many would at first glance think to belong to a man until they took a closer look at the person's face. The second was an obviously female silhouette with blonde hair tied in a ponytail dressed in red and black clothes of an Assassin. With their arrival the strike team was complete.

The two came to stop in front of her throne and knelt. Then the masculine woman spoke up. "Your majesty. We have come to assist with your problem."

-END-

 _Heteromorphic Races_

Shiro Byakko: White Beast of the West

Job: One of the Sacred Beasts of Eden

Alignment: Neutral, Sense of Justice: -50

Racial Level: Imp 10

Youkai 10

Others

Job Level: Manipulator 10

Expert Manipulator 10

Master Manipulator 5

Transmuter 10

Beast 10

Striker 7

Racial Level: 35, Job Level: 52, Total Level: 87

Ability Charts

HP: 60, MP: 60, PHYATK: 70, PHYDEF: 50, AGI: 100, MAGATK: 45, MAGDEF: 55, RESIST: 50, SPECIAL: 40

####

 _Heteromorphic Races_

Penemue: The Highly Intelligent Rogue

Job: One of the Watchers of Babylon

Alignment: Evil, Sense of Justice: -200

Racial Level: Angel 10

Virtue 10

Cherub 10

Job Level: Rogue 15

Swashbuckler 15

Nightblade 15

Assassin 10

Gladiator 6

Racial Level: 30, Job Level: 61, Total Level: 91

Ability Charts

HP: 80, MP: 20, PHTATK: 75, PHYDEF: 60, AGI: 80, MAGATK: 15, MAGDEF: 65, RESIST: 65, SPECIAL: 50


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 6: Prelude to the Beasts  
**

 _This place is depressing._

All around the city, wherever Garagaran went the scenery was almost always the same. Frightened women, starving children and wounded men. This scenery greeted her almost everywhere she went. There were millions of refuge seekers from all over the country and the Draconic Kingdom capital could no longer care for them. Where she walked starving mouths stared, silently pleading for food. Apparently crime in the city was rising, diseases were spreading and many young women had resorted to selling their bodies on the streets. The only place untouched was the Noble District. From what she had heard the pompous shits had tried to force the queen to close the gates to stop more asylum seekers from entering the city.

"This is currently the worse place our leader could have sent us to," Tina said, as if she had read her companion's thoughts.

Their leader, Laykus of the Re-Estize Kingdom's Adamantite team Blue Rose had sent them to this place in order to get their strength back up to the level it had been before their encounter with the demon Jaldabaoth. Both Laykus and Evileye as well as Tina had felt their progress was too slow and that they needed to get their strength back as soon as possible. They were sent here because fighting in life and death situations improved skills much faster than training. There was a war coming and they would be needed.

The Draconic Kingdom was on its last legs. If the attack on the capital succeeded the kingdom would be finished. The people here would become nothing more than a food source for the invading beastmen. As a human and one with considerable power, Gargaran could not let the men-eating monsters overrun the Draconic Kingdom. That's why she had readily agreed to come to this place. This was one of the few nations in which humans were not treated as slaves or food. It could not be allowed to fall.

"When are we meeting the rest of the assault squad?" Tina asked.

They had just finished meeting with the queen who had explained the countries desperate situation to them. They had been assigned to the elite assault squad under the command of Cerebrate the Fierce Flash of the Draconic Kingdom's Adamantite group Crystal Tear. From what Gargaran heard the man was skilled with the blade, but an insufferable shit with an eye for young girls.

"In one and a half hours," she answered. "We should probably stock up on goods before we meet them. I don't want to have to run around in the last minute searching for useful items."

Dusk was fading and night was falling. It was about eighteen hours before the estimated arrival of the Beastmen Army at the city gates and Gargaran wanted to take a few of those hours to sleep. The Beastmen Army was estimated to be around eighty thousand and she was not going to be anything less than fully rested before she took them on.

"I heard the Slane Theocracy sent some of their people as well," Tina said as they walked towards the mages guild. "Some members of one of their secret units. Apparently the empire sent aid too, one of the Four Knights."

Gargaran gritted her teeth when she heard that. "Those traitors are sending someone? I'm surprised."

Right now the most hated nation in the vicinity was not the expected Sorcerous Kingdom, but the Baharuth Empire, who had sold their souls to the dreaded Sorcerer King. Before the monster had appeared the only country that hated them had been the Kingdom. No one else cared much back then, it had been a fight between humans. But then they showed their treachery. They betrayed their own kind and sided with an undead, let the monster massacred over a hundred thousand people and then got themselves vassalised by the despicable nation. Their actions were unforgivable.

"Reign in your anger now Muscle Head," Tia said, noticing her teammate's facial expression. "The situation in this country is quite desperate. We need all the help we can get. Why not wait until we beat the beasts back before you kill him, or better yet, don't do anything. Attacking the Empire's Four Knights would be a declaration of war on the Empire and by extension the Sorcerous Kingdom. Even if you're an Adamantite level Adventurer no one back home apart from Laykus will raise finger to protect you from that monster. They'd offer you up on a silver platter just to appease him."

That was one of the things that angered Gargaran the most. Everyone was so scared of that damned undead, not that she did not understand. She too had met an unfathomable existence by the name of Jaldabaoth and she had died within seconds of the encounter, but that did not make her quake in her pants every time she heard his name. The nobles of the Kingdom were damned cowards! At this point they would do anything in their power not to anger the monster.

It wasn't long before the two of them arrived at the Mages Guild headquarters. The place was surprisingly lively. There were over two dozen people in the guild hall, and it seems they were all watching the argument taking place at the receptionist's desk.

"What do you mean I'm lying?" The voice came from a white haired short haired girl who looked just a few years younger than Tia. "Why is it so hard to believe I can use 6th Tier magic? Is it not common?"

The receptionist was looking down at the girl with a annoyed expression. "Young Lady, it is clear from that statement that you know nothing of magic. 6th Tier Magic is in the realm of Legends. Only one man in history has ever accomplished it."

"Then you're all pathetic!" the girl was angry. "I can cast 6th Tier magic and I'll show you!"

At this point the reception's irritation turned to a condescending smile. "Why don't you show us a lower tiered spell. Something like [Fly] will do."

Silence followed for a while. The girl's silent voice echoed across the entire hall.

"I don't know how to."

The entire hall erupted in laughter, causing the girl to turn red from anger and embarrassment. "Bitch! I show you!"

A young man standing nearly two metres tall stepped towards the reception. Gargaran had not seen him when she had entered so he must have come in after her. The man walked up to the desk, muttered "excuse me" to the receptionist and whispered something in the girl's ear. The young woman seemed to visibly calm down. Her face took on a dignified expression and she turned her back on the reception.

"Forget it," she said sternly. "Your guild is a joke. Not like there's anything you can teach me. We're leaving Ramiel."

"Yes Chi- Oujo-sama," the young armoured man responded.

The girl left without another word and the young warrior followed obediently. After the doors closed behind them the entire guild hall once more erupted in laughter, talking about how stupid the girl thought them to expect them to believe her outrageous lies. Gargaran stopped listening to them and approached the reception.

"Welcome to the Mages Guild." The receptionist now wore the polite expression that was expected of her profession. "How may I help you?"

"I'm looking for healing potions, antidotes and any kind of item that might increase my chances of survival considerably," she stated. "By the way, who was that?"

The receptionist shrugged, her irritation returning. "No idea, just some noble brat who tried to join the guild and expected special treatment."

"Oh," Gargaran said dismissively. Such situations were common. There was nothing to worry about.

Tia however did not feel the same way. As one of Blue Rose's scouts she had been training her senses merciless because she had failed to sense the strength of Jaldabaoth last time and it had cost her dearly. The white haired girl chilled her to the bones. The same could be said about her companion. Those two were very dangerous.

* * *

"I can't believe this!" Shiva growled minutes after they had left the Mages Guild. "That stupid bitch!"

The only reason had not put the receptionist in her place was because Ramiel advised her against it. If 6th tier Magic was really the stuff of legend it would be unwise to cast it because it would draw too much attention. She was lucky he had arrived when he did to stop her from doing something so foolish.

Ramiel listened to her rant without saying anything. When she finished he simply asked. "Should I go back and destroy them?"

Although he looked calm on the outside the Archangel was seething on the inside. Those foolish mortals in their ignorance dared to insult and laugh at his _Father._ It was a sin of the highest degree. The only reason the great ruler of Zion did not have flight magic was because there was no need. Angels were born with the power of flight. It would be ridiculous and utterly wasteful for them to learn such magic. There could be no forgiveness for disrespecting his parent. Every Archangel, even kind Gabriel, would have felt the same way. The fools needed to be punished.

"No," the ruler of Zion said, regaining her calm once more. "Destroying them over something so mundane would be small-minded of us. Do not attack anyone unless they attack you first and even then do not use lethal force unless you have no choice. Plus, we still have to maintain cover. Do not expose your true form until I say so."

Unlike the rest of his siblings Ramiel was patient and always thought before he acted. If it had been one of the others, especially Uriel or Sariel, the Mages Guild hall would have been reduced to cinders in an instant. Jophiel would have trapped them in some kind of nightmare win which they would experience their worst fears for all eternity and the other three would just outright kill them. Ramiel had stayed his hand because he had suspected his _Father_ would tell him not to kill them.

"Yes Oujo-sama," he replied.

"Now," Shiva looked around. "Where is Nia?"

"He's back at the Adventurers Guild. He'll contact us as soon as he hears something important."

Ramiel did not trust Niahoggr. He was an outsider to Zion and although he was not a threat he could tell someone Zion would consider a threat about their ruler. Not that he would do it now, when his real body was back in Eden, but one day when he goes free he might reveal critical information to outsiders. Michael had instructed him to watch the dragon and he intended to do so. However, his priority was of course the last remaining El. In the absence of his siblings, away from the Flying Fortress, he should not be away from her for long. It shamed him that he had been away from her for hours today.

"Okay," Shiva said. "Let's walk around. I would like to see the state of the city."

When they had first entered the city she had not given its state and that of the people attention. Back in her old world whenever a city or country took in refugees it always resulted in trouble. Crime and violence would increase and the asylum seekers would get all the blame. Xenophobia would increase to the point where the citizens would take matters in their own hands and attack the foreigners in an attempt to drive them out of their land. As she walked around the city she saw that the residents of the capital had already begun to get violent and were blaming displaced for the shortage of food and every other problem, some which had been present even before the refugees came. Shiva was disgusted by them. Grown men were picking on a little girl and a toddler boy.

"Would you look at that?" she said out loud, making sure they heard her. "Grown men picking on children, where's the courage in that that?" Both men turned to her angrily and were about to tell her off or even attack her but the gigantic figure of Ramiel clad in armour made their words die in their throats. "Get out of here," Shiva said as venomously as she could. They did not need to be told twice.

With the men gone Shiva went on one knee and asked the children if they were alright. The girl nodded but a second later it seemed like a dam had broken and she started crying uncontrollably. The young boy followed soon after. Shiva soothed them to the point where they could talk and asked them why they were alone and where their parents were. The girl shrugged. Feeling sorry for the children, she gave them each a gold coin and told them to get something to eat before she left them.

The state of the city was truly depressing with prostitutes in the open streets offering themselves to any willing person for even a single copper. The city slumps were packed with more refugees than any of the other places combined and they all looked the same; sick, hungry or both.

"Oujo-sama," Ramiel called to her while they passed by the poor souls. "Why are the people in charge not doing anything to help these people?"

As one who had always lived in Zion he could not understand. How could the leaders of a country neglect their people? He knew that comparing this place with the Flying Fortress was not fair as most inhabitants of Zion had no need for food. However, he found it hard to understand why the rulers of this city allowed their people to starve when they clearly had enough money and food to help them. The Elohim would never do something like that.

"Humans are selfish creatures Ramiel," Shiva spat. Back in her old world seeing people in such a state was common place. Everyone was numb to the suffering of others. "They do not care for suffering of others as long as they are well off. Many of them would even take from those who have almost nothing just to improve their position. It's appalling."

She found herself standing in the middle of a street surrounded by countless refugees and stopped. She raised her hands and began to cast a spell. [Widen Magic][Enhanced Maximize Magic: Major Heal]. The surroundings lit up and everyone who was touched by the light of the 8th tier healing spell began to look better. The sores of the wounded closed, the fatigue of the tired vanished, the hunger of starving disappeared and the sickness of the diseased was cured. When the people realised who had cast the spell they all surrounded her and praised her. Some even fell to their knees and it looked like they were worshiping her. The entire scene made her uncomfortable. She was no holy figure that needed to be revered. She grabbed Ramiel and teleported out of the slums. They appeared in front of the inn where they had booked rooms for the night. It was of course in the Noble District so there wasn't a single refugee in sight, at least not a poor one.

"It's almost midnight," she said after taking a breather. "Let's go get Nia. He must be bored out his mind in the Adventurers Guild."

* * *

The gates of the Draconic capital opened at the break of dawn, but not to let people in. Fifty thousand soldiers filed out. More than half of these men were really conscripts from the refugees that had entered the city. The trained elites of the Kingdom stood on the walls and on the other side of the gate. This would be the Draconic Kingdom's last stand. If the beastmen won here the country would be lost.

Ahead of the army, in his red and gold armour, was Cerebrate. He had a cocky look as he stared at the horizon. He was a handsome man with considerable skill, but a total jerk. That was how Tia felt about him. After meeting him the previous evening she contemplated leaving the assault team and would have probably done so if not for her teammate. Gargaran hated the arrogant prick's guts too, but she would never abandon the people of this country to their fate. As Adventurers she felt it was their duty to protect the human race. Tia felt the same way too, though to a lesser degree.

 _Still._ She looked around at the shady Slane Theocracy people. They never introduced themselves, but they radiated strength. Walking with them was one of the Empire's Four Knights _Gale_ Nimble Ark Dale Anock. Although he had seemingly come to lend a hand and even brought a small elite force of five hundred Imperial Knights no one was talking to him due to his association with the Blood Emperor and by extension, the Sorcerer King. No one was in a cooperative mood it seems. They knew nothing about each other's abilities and skills and most were unwilling to team up with each other. Everyone was going to fight in the team they knew and were used. Tia got a migraine just thinking about it. Everything would end in a disaster.

She fingered the silver ring on her finger. Evileye had created two of them and they were given to both she and Garagaran. The rings were imbued with tracking magic and could be used to message her if the situation got out of hand. The rest of the team promised to appear immediately after they are contacted.

"Everything will be alright," Gargaran suddenly said, as if she had read her thoughts. The muscular woman smiled at her. "Even if it won't be our leader and chibi will come through for us. I'm sure these beastmen won't be a match for Chibi."

Tia turned her gaze to the horizon. Originally the scouts sent out had reported that the Beastmen Army would arrive around noon, however, recent intelligence confirmed that they would arrive shortly after daybreak, any time soon. She could feel the ground shaking. A large army was approaching, much larger than the one they had. She hardened her heart and prepared for what was coming.

It was going to be a long and brutal battle.

* * *

"Chichi-ue, are we not going to help them?"

Shiva and Ramiel were standing atop the city walls, watching the battle that would take place below. Soldiers and archers lined the wall in great numbers but no one took note of them. The two were using [Lack of Presence]. It was a high level skill which could only be used by angels of the first order. The skill made them invisible and intangible to all who were not angels or demons. They in turn could not interact with the other races and had to become visible in order to attack. Although [Lack of Presence] made them intangible, it unfortunately did not give them the power to walk through walls and they could be detected by creatures with a high enough detection skill.

"For now we will stand back and watch," Shiva responded to Ramiel's question. "Maybe they will push back the beastmen attack on their own."

"I've heard that beastmen are ten times stronger than humans and they eat humans," Ramiel stated unhappily. It was clear to Shiva he wanted to help the people.

Of course Ramiel had relayed to her all he had heard about the invaders. Back in Yggdrasil there had been beastmen but coming to this world has taught her many things. The creatures in this world were not as strong as they were back in the game and they might be different, like those trolls she had met a few days ago. That particular breed had not existed in Yggdrasil.

Apparently the beastmen were trying to conquer the Draconic Kingdom to use it as a breeding farm for human meat. The whole idea behind it disgusted Shiva. The fact that one sentient creature would eat another was repulsive. After this battle she would remove all the beastmen from the captured cities.

However, now was too soon to interfere. It was unknown whether the beastmen would prevail. As the only nation in the vicinity governed by a fellow woman she wanted to have ties with it and she wanted to have the higher ground when she makes a deal. If she were to intervene now when the threat level had not been ascertained it would be all for nothing. She was of course not going to say this to Ramiel.

"Don't worry," she smiled at him. "I will wipe them out before they enter the city."

* * *

None panicked more at the sight of the Beastmen Army the Queen Draudiron Oriculus. Her small body shivered in fear as she witnessed thousands of beastmen appear from beyond the horizon. The fearsome creatures were humanoids of every carnivorous type. Canine, feline, she even noticed primates in the mix. They had no formation. Their general did not call for a halt to see the size of their enemies and gauge the strength. From beyond the horizon they sprang and charged straight into the smaller human army.

As the two armies impacted she silently prayed to all the gods she knew and even those she did not know for a victory. Today she stood on the wall not only to encourage the soldiers and raise their spirits, but because it was the best spot for her wild magic to be most effective against the invading army. Should the Assault Team fail their objective the soldiers inside the city would start killing the citizens in order to increase her power. What she prayed for mostly was for her not to have to resort to that method.

There was another reason she came to watch the battle from atop the walls.

Last night she had a dream. Not a regular dream but a vision. As a result of wild magic she was able to glimpse visions of the future, but they were always unclear and never easy to understand. However, she believed she interpreted this vision well enough. In the vision she was standing atop the wall just as she was now, looking down at the unfolding battle outside the city. She could see her army clearly but not beastmen. They were simply silhouettes with claws and fangs invading, spreading their darkness and consuming her army. Before they could completely consume her army though, a white dove descended upon the battlefield. It landed in the middle of the dark shapes and began to radiate with a light brighter than any she had ever seen, causing the dark figures to disintegrate in its presence and completely eliminating them.

That dream gave her hope that help would come. Her people would prevail. When the white dove descends they would be victorious.

there was a chance she had misinterpreted the dream. However there was nothing she could do about it. All she could do was pray and hope for the best.

-END-

 **Character Stats**

 _Heteromorphic Races_

Akai Suzaku: The Red Beast of the South

Job: One of the Sacred Beasts of Eden

Alignment: Good, Sense of Justice: 200

Racial Level: Imp 10

Phoenix 10

Other

Job Level: Manipulator 10

Expert Manipulator 10

Master Manipulator 6

Elemental Mage 10

Beast 5

Others

Racial Level: 22, Job Level: 61, Total Level: 83

Ability Charts

HP: 55, MP: 70, PHYATK: 25, PHYDEF: 60, AGI: 45, MAGATK: 55, MAGDEF: 70, RESIST: 60, SPECIAL: 60


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 7: Beast Invasion**

"PREPARE YOURSELVES!"

The shout came from Cerebrate, who stood at the forefront of the defending army. He appeared calm as he faced the approaching beastmen. He shield was raised, his sword was steady. Many among the defenders opted to stand as far behind him as they could. Their hands trembled and their teeth were clattered. The sight of the beastly army terrified them. The mass of fur, claws and fangs could strike fear into the hearts experienced soldiers. These men were not soldiers. Many of them had never seen war. The sight of the beastmen more than just terrified them. It completely paralysed them with fear.

Cerebrate let them stand their ground as the archers from the walls notched and launched their arrows. Hundreds of beastmen fell, though not as much as they wanted. If given the chance the archers atop the wall would probably have launched their arrows again, unfortunately the beastmen had gotten within striking distance of their comrades.

"CHARGE!"

Gargaran, who had been thinking about the people around her, let go of her train of thought and charged forward. Such thoughts were a distraction in her current predicament. In fact all thoughts were a distraction. In a fight one had to silence thought and let instinct take over. Failing to do so was a shortcut to the grave.

She rushed forward with her war pick raised. The beastmen were less than a hundred metres from her. The two armies would collide in three... two... one... She swung war pick horizontally. Her first victim was a dog-faced beastman with a wooden spear. She had managed to avoid it and sunk her pick into his skull. Without delay she extracted it and swung to the next one, a monkey faced beastman. The pick dung into his chest. Her next opponent was another canine type beastman, she caught him in the neck. She stepped to the side as another beastman tried to attack her. He stumbled past her and her war pick caught him in the back.

On average beastmen are ten times stronger than humans, meaning under normal circumstances it would take ten humans to match one beastman. However, Gargaran and everyone else in her squad were not normal. They were the pinnacle of humanity. If normal humans had an estimated difficulty level of 3 that would mean the average of beastman had a rating of 30. The difference was quite large and would scare an ordinary human. However, the men and women at the head of the defending army were anything but ordinary. A difficulty of 30 was child's play to all of them. They were all rated above 70.

Gargaran trailed behind Cerebrate, whose sword spilled beast blood with every swing. Cutting through their defence proved easy as none of the beastmen seemed to be wearing anything stronger than leather. Gargaran guessed their reason was because they did not want to lower their agility. The choice to sacrifice defence for agility proved to be a fatal one as blades sunk into them without effort. Gargaran bashed their heads in as she followed Cerebrate. Corpses piled up in their way as they pushed ahead. Ten... twenty... thirty... within minutes they had dropped a hundred bodies in their wake.

 _This is easier than I thought it would be,_ she thought as she bludgeoned another beastman. If the situation remained like how it was the battle would be over quickly. They would kill they enemy commander before noon.

But of course battles are not so predictable. The numbers that threw themselves at her drastically increased. Before then not more than three attacked her at once but as she advanced the number of opponents increased. Suddenly she had six or more beastmen attacking her. She dodged the two in front by jumping to the left. Her shoulder collided with the jaw of a feline beastman and a sickening crunch was felt from the impact. As the beastman stumbled backwards she brought her war pick down and tore into his shoulder. The hand that was connected to the shoulder had previously raised a buckler to block the swing but failed. Gargaran grabbed hold of the buckler and kicked him away. Not caring whether he still lived or had died, she turned to the remaining four and blocked them with the stolen buckler. After that her weapon picked them off in an instant.

The sudden sound of a roaring beastman made her turn to face her next opponent. He was a pig faced beastman with an axe in each hand. When Gargaran turned to face him he was already in the middle of swinging the axes at her. She panicked and tried to bring the buckler up to block. But the axes were too close. She would not be able to block in time. Gargaran panicked even more. The reason she panicked was not because she thought she was going to die. No, she was certain she would survive the attack, however she would not come out unscathed.

Adventurers were far superior to normal soldiers and boasted much more experience than them. However, when it came to a crowded battlefield soldiers were clearly more experienced. After all, Adventurers rarely took part in wars. The enemies they fought when they took request from the guild were usually stronger than those that appeared on the battlefield. However, they were also fewer in number. If a member of an Adventurer team got injured while questing for the guild the person would usually withdraw for a while in order to heal themselves whilst their comrades covered them.

Right now Gargaran was stuck in a warzone, a battlefield far more chaotic than any she had ever been in. Here she could not afford to get hurt because the there would be no one to cover her while she drank a healing potion. There would be no time to rest until the battle was concluded. If she got injured now she would have to endure until they drove the beastmen away. Even for someone of her skill level this battlefield was dangerous. With the odds stacked heavily against her side from the beginning if she got injured now her chances of survival would go from _uncertain_ to _no chance of surviving._ It would be extremely difficult to make it through with such chances.

Luckily she did not have to find out how hard it would be.

A silhouette detached itself from the beastman's shadow. The figure rose and clamped one hand around the beastman's snout. The second hand moved just as fast, carrying a dagger to the creature's throat and slitting it. The beastman was dead before his body hit the ground.

"Don't go running of by yourself like that," Tia scolded her after dispatching the enemy. "One careless move and our oni leader will have to bring you back again."

"Thanks," was the only reply she gave as she ran forward and sunk her pick into another opponent.

She was not alone. Even though they were outnumbered in this chaotic field, even though no one in the elite Assault Squad was working together as they should, her comrade was here to support her. They would make it through.

And so the two of them went forth together. Gargaran tanked the enemies and cut down all those in front of her while Tia defended her back and flanks. Due to many years of working together their teamwork was flawless. All beastmen who entered Gargaran's weapon's range were mowed down and those on her sides and her rear were taken down by shuriken before they could get close enough to pose a threat. Their affectivity had increased multiple fold and their battle became much easier. Ahead of them Cerebrate was still advancing with his team supporting him. Their cleric would from time to time raise his staff to heal one of his teammates.

Time passed by and the battle went on. Cerebrate and the rest of Crystal Tear managed to break through Beastmen Army and arrived at the foot of a small hill. Atop the hill stood the Beastman General. He was a lion beastman with a thick brown mane who wore a distinctive red plate armour. There were hundreds of soldiers surrounding him and all seemed to be wearing proper armour with proper weapons unlike those they had been fighting. From their attire one could tell the classes. Warriors, berserkers, mages, clerics and archers, it was not until they reached the hill that they experienced the first volley of ranged attacks from the beastmen. Suddenly fireballs, lightning bolts and arrows rained down on them. Being Adamantite ranked Adventurers, the members of Crystal Tear reacted quickly. Cerebrate jumped backwards, in front of the cleric, and raised his shield. The shield seemed to have been imbued with elemental protection because the spells had no effect on him or the cleric he was protecting. Three of the members; a mage, a monk and a knight, managed to take cover under the mage's swiftly made barrier. The last member, a rogue, was not so lucky however and was struck down on the spot. Things took a turn for the worse after that.

The mage's shield eventually gave out and everyone under it was bombarded by the spells. None of them survived. All the attacks shifted to Cerebrate. His shield was sturdy and nullified elemental attacks. However there was only so much a man could endure, even someone of his level. In less than a minute the impact from the attacks hitting against his shield knocked it aside. Not a moment later an arrow struck him in the chest, sending him to the ground and leaving the cleric undefended. He didn't survive for very long. With the members of Crystal Tear down the beastmen atop the hill moved on to their next targets, Gargaran and Tia.

The two members of Blue Rose instincts kicked in and managed to mostly dodge the first volley. Unlike Tia the Ninja, Gargaran was not swift and agile enough to dodge the all the projectiles. An arrow struck her in the thigh. Pain shot up her leg but she ignored it and rolled out of the way. A fireball hit the place she had been standing previous and exploded. Gargaran could not escape the fireball's explosive range in time and had to bring her buckler up to defend herself. It did not help much. Half her body was scorched and the buckler was rendered useless by the explosion. Gargaran cried out in pain and tried to move again to escape the next volley. Much to her surprise she found herself unable to move. She looked down and found vines around her ankle. She recognised the spell [Twine Plant]. Gargaran looked to her side and much to her dismay she saw Tia too was bound by plants. Without thinking Gargaran cast her war pick aside jumped towards her. Tia was still in reach so she managed to tackle her to the ground. Spells missed her but three arrows lodged in her back. Gargaran cried out but amidst her cries she was able to scream something coherent.

"REMOVE THE RING! NOW!"

The rings on Tia and Gargaran's fingers could be used to message Evileye, but they didn't have time for it. Taking off the rings would send an emergency signal to their mage, prompting her to appear immediately. However, the hand on which Gargaran had placed her ring was scorched and the other could not move because she had dislocated her shoulder when she tackled Tia to the ground. Taking her ring off would be too hard and too timely, which is why she shouted for Tia to take of hers instead.

But she did not feel Tia moving under her. In her moment of confusion she looked into her teammate's face and her heart sank when she saw why. Tia was unconscious. Gargaran vaguely remembered her shoulder bash against Tia's chin. Unfortunately the force had been enough to knock her out cold. In her desperation Gargaran looked around. Her heart sank even lower at what she saw.

All the time while pushing forward she had thought that the Dragon Kingdom Army was advancing with her and the rest. However, that was not the case. In her battle frenzy she had forgotten that most of these men were not even soldiers and that the beastmen were several times their physical superiors. What she saw as she looked around was a one sided slaughter. Claws, fangs, spears and swords ripped the humans apart as if they were made of paper. The only ones who were still putting up a fight were Nimble and the Slane Theocracy agents. From the Numbers attacking them it looked like they would be overrun soon.

Immediately Gargaran reached for Tia's ring hand with her scorched one. Taking the ring from her knocked out comrade's finger would be easier than trying to remove her own. Evileye needed to know what was happening now. It did not matter if she died while doing so. As long the beastmen don't eat her Laykus could always bring her back to life. If Evileye appeared now the beastmen would never get the chance to eat her.

However, luck was not on her side today.

Out of the corner of her eye she glimpsed a fireball speeding towards her. A single thought entered her mind as she saw this. She could no longer move. She was too injured and her foot was caught in some plants. There was nothing left to do but wait the end.

 _We should never have come here._

* * *

"Chichi-ue, are the humans deliberately trying to lose?"

"That's what I'm wondering too Ramiel."

The two of them were still standing atop the city wall much to the obliviousness of everyone. They watched as the two sides collided and the battle began, It was plainly obvious from the beginning who would win.

 _Why are they fighting outside with the city when their skill level is so low?_ Shiva asked herself.

When the battle started only one group of humans was able to stand their ground and even gain some. The rest of were instantly pushed back and massacred. The beastmen were vicious and merciless. They spared no human that crossed their path and the battlefield blossomed red with human blood.

Shiva felt frustrated looking at the battle below her. Did these people of the Dragon Kingdom know anything about war? They had practically jumped into the battle without planning. Any knowledgeable general would have found a way to use their familiarity with the area to their advantage.

"Ramiel," she began turning to him. "What would you have done if it was you commanding the humans?"

Ramiel was quiet for a while. Pondering on his answer before replying. "Sending out the army was a good idea but I would leave the gates open so they can quickly retreat behind the city walls. The only reason I would sent out the army is to provoke the beastmen into charging forward. They will of course be charging into an area that is heavily booby trapped. After culling some of their numbers I would have archers and mages atop the walls cover the rest of the army while they retreat back into the city. Then I would prepare for a siege"

"Wouldn't there be a great risk of the beastmen entering the city if everything does not go according to plan?"

"Baiting the enemy army is important. If not they would be suspicious and alert. Any traps I set would not be as effective. For all I know the Beastman General has a way to neutralise the traps. It would be better if he didn't get the chance to use it."

"I guess you're right," Shiva said, turning back to watch the battle.

The Beastmen General seemed to be the smarter of the two enemy commanders. He stood atop a hill surrounded by what looked like his best soldiers and mages with several _Chrystal Monitors_ showing him the battlefield. With that he was able to accordingly direct the battle. The Beastmen General ordered his troops to concentrate on the sides, leaving the centre with minimal defences for the skilled humans to cut through. Through the _Crystal Monitors_ he was also able to gauge their skills and prepare for them accordingly. When they humans broke through and got within striking business he had his elite soldiers bombard them with projectiles and spells. It worked beautifully. The skilled humans were being taken out without much effort. Shiva would have applauded this tactical genius if she did not know what would happen if the beastmen won.

"It's about time we joined the battle Ramiel."

She walked to the edge of the wall, her eyes set on a particular struggling warrior, and used a racial skill. It was the only skill that could be activated why still under [Lack of Presence].

[Divine Intervention]

* * *

"Your Majesty, I think it's time," the Prime Minister whispered in her ear.

It was obvious from the beginning that they were fighting a losing battle, yet Draudiron hesitated to give the required order. _Any moment now,_ she thought. _Any moment now_ , she prayed. Her people were getting slaughtered on the battlefield. Where was the white dove she had seen in her dreams? If there was any moment which it should appear it should be now. Her dreams never lied, but they could be misinterpreted. However, right now Draudiron needed her interpretation to be correct. Right now she needed someone to save have from ordering the slaughter of her own people!

However, time flew and the white dove did not appear. The Beastmen Army smashed through the defending army easily and approached the city walls. The Archers on the walls took up their bows and began to rain arrows down on them. Delay them would not work for long though.

"Okay," she said with trembling lips. Her eyes began to tear at what she was about to say next. "Be-"

However, the sight of something at the far line of the Beastmen Army stopped her from finishing her sentence.

* * *

The fireball never hit Gargaran.

Before it got within a metre of her someone appeared out of thin air and, much to Gargaran's surprise, backhanded the fireball, sending it skywards. The entire surroundings seemed to go quiet after witnessing this action. The person who had performed it though did not seem to care about the sudden silence of the battle field. Shielding her eyes from the sun, the person merely looked up in the direction she had sent the fireball and mumbled to herself, though because of their proximity Gargaran heard what she her. "Hm. [Spell Reflect] was more effective than I thought it would be." She next she turned to face Gargaran and the Blue Rose warrior saw the face of the girl she had seen at the Mages Guild the previous day.

"Are you alright?" the girl asked. She continued before Gargaran could respond. "Rhetorical question, of course you're not. Why don't you sit back and relax. We'll handle the rest. [Grand Healing]"

A light bathed Gargaran and dissipated as fast as it had appeared. A moment later Gargaran realised that that her pain had disappeared. The arrows in her thigh and back had popped out and the wounds had been sealed. Her previous scorched half had been healed without leaving any scarring. What's more the fatigue had been building up throughout the battle had vanished. She felt good, even better than she had felt before the battle started.

Gargaran looked up at the girl in astonishment, but the girl's attention had already moved elsewhere. The beastmen had begun firing spells and arrows at her. The girl did not much react as a stone wall rose in front of her and intercepted the projectiles.

"Those spells will probably break through the wall in a minute," the girl mumbled, again turning to face Gargaran. She raised her hand and cast two spells, plainly speaking their names as she did so. "[Magic Shell][Wall of Protection From Arrows]. Stay where you are and you'll be just fine."

Right after she finished speaking the wall of stone reached the end of its durability, causing it to explode. The girl did not move, however none of the debris from the shattered wall touched her because it seems she had put up a barrier to protect herself. The girl than reached behind her back and drew two metal batons Gargaran recognised as sai, ninja weapons. Then she rushed forward.

Her speed was frightening, faster than anyone Gargaran had ever seen. _This girl is magic-caster, how can her physical abilities be so high?_ She was having trouble following her with her eyes and could only make out certain actions. With her incredible speed the girl managed to reach the top of the hill in seconds and engaged the unprepared beastmen elites. She only remained there for a second though, but when she retreated more than a dozen enemies had fallen. Within seconds she was in front of Gargaran again, holding the battered form of Cerebrate over her shoulder.

"This one's still alive," the girl said, dumping him next to her. She took a flask with a red liquid out of seemingly nowhere and tossed it to Gargaran. "Remove his armour and give him this." A moment later another flask landed near Gargaran. "Use that for your friend."

Under normal circumstances Gargaran would have been suspicious of the potion the girl had given her, but the fact that she had just saved her life kept her suspicion at bay. If the girl had bad intentions she would not have saved her. At least that was what Gargaran thought. She could not imagine anyone who would go through the trouble of saving someone just to feed them poison or something worse.

The girl seemed to have gotten rid of her sai and was now holding a golden staff as long as her body. "I guess it's time to wrap this up [Vine Menace]."

* * *

"Dammit!" Dong Sho cursed as he watched his men fall.

This was his most important battle ever. If he managed to take control of the Dragon Kingdom capital he would be the most accomplished man in the last century. The children of the Beastmen Kingdom would sing songs of him and he would go down as one of the greatest men in the kingdom's history. All he had to do was win the battle here and not only would he secure a lot of land for his people but they would also gain a vast food source, one that could feed them for centuries. No beastman would ever go hungry ever again. This accomplishment would make him the most powerful man in the Beastman Kingdom after the Beast King.

Only a small group of humans had posed a problem and he had devised a good plan to get rid of them with minimal casualties. In the beginning the plan had worked perfectly. He would have succeeded in completely eliminating the problematic humans had it not been for the dark skinned white haired crimson eyed wench that appeared out of thin air and swatted one of his mages' fireball spell away. He had immediately sensed the danger she posed and had his elites concentrate on her. However, the wench defended against their attacks and managed to retaliate, jumping straight into the foray. When she got close to them he had originally believed his warriors would be able to handle her but he was proven wrong. The wench crossed weapons with them for a second and managed to take down a dozen of his elites in that short time. The realisation of the threat this human girl posed to his campaign became clear with that exchange. Panic immediately gripped his heart.

"THE WHITE HAIRED WOMAN!" he shouted. He wanted all his elite soldiers to hear. "CONCENTRATE ALL YOUR ATTACKS ON HER! I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO, JUST MAKE SURE YOU KILL HER!"

They could not react fast enough.

Before they could begin they felt the ground trembling below them. Suddenly what appeared to be numerous vines as thick as a grown man's bicep erupted from the earth. All the beastmen, including Dong Sho, did not move. They stood still, transfixed by the occurring spectacle. It cost them dearly. Without warning the vines swiftly wrapped themselves around them. In the heap of panic the beastmen tried to escape. There were those who tried to loosen the vines' grip with their hands, those who tried to slash them with their swords and those who tried to bite through them. All attempts were fruitless. Though the vines appeared flexible they were harder than anything any of them had come across. Once ensnared none of them could escape. None of them had escaped being ensnared.

The next moment the vines, which had coiled uncontested around their bodies, began to tighten. The sound of metal being crushed and bones breaking filled the area along with screams of agony. The horror stricken beastmen tried harder to escape but their attempts bore the same results. The vines continued to tighten and they found themselves struggling to breathe. Realising that whatever they did had no effect and nothing they did would work, they gave up. Despair filled their hearts shortly afterwards. With this realisation the ensnared beastmen, the strongest and most vicious beastmen in the army, began to cry. They cried out of fear. They cried for help. They cried for their families. They cried for their unfortunate fates. Dong Sho cried with them. He cried for them same things.

Minutes later they all went silent. There was no more struggling among them. No more breath. No more life. Nearly a thousand souls had been snuffed out just like that.

* * *

Shiva turned from the sight of the boundless corpses entangled in the vines she had conjured. [Vine Menace] was a 10th Tier spell. It had a weaker hold than [Vine Snare] but had the advantage in that it could be used to ensnare an entire group. A level 100 player could break out within seconds whilst a player below level 70 had no hope of escaping. It seems the spell worked a little different from how she remembered. Back in Yggdrasil no one had ever been crushed to death by the spell, no matter how weak. She had not cast the spell with the intention to kill.

 _Taking a life is so easy,_ she thought to herself. In her world killing was among the greatest of taboos. Killing could land you a sizable number of years in confinement or even render your own life forfeit. Taking another's life was discouraged by all levels of society. Yet in this world she had casually snuffed out hundreds of lives in an instant without even meaning to. Shiva should have been scared. Scared for the people of this world, scared of what she could do to them. And yet what she felt instead was disturbed. Disturbed by how she was unaffected by what she had just done, disturbed that she did not view those who had been killed as sentient beings. When she previously left Zion she thought of the trolls she had killed as rabid animals. This time she merely thought of the beastmen as ants she had accidentally stepped on.

 _It must be because of my race change,_ she thought. According to Yggdrasil legend if one chose to ignore physiologies they would see that angels and humans weren't that different. Angels, like humans, had all kinds of emotions. They could be happy, they could be sad, they could be good and they could be evil. Angels were basically what humans would be if they were given an immortal body that did not tire or require sustenance. And just like humans would look down on lower life forms angels looked down on mortal races. The deaths of mortals at their hands brought neither joy nor sorrow. No feeling of accomplishment. To them it was basically as triumphant as walking and breathing. _I seriously need someone to give me a psychological evaluation._

Shiva turned back to the muscular woman and saw Ramiel approaching them. Following closely behind him were black robed figures and a man wearing expensive silver armour, probably a knight. Wherever they stepped their feet would land on a beastman corpse. Ramiel's black spear was dripping blood, a contrast to the rest of his body which did not have a single speck of dust. The men who followed him were constantly shooting him looks of awe and admiration.

"How many?" Shiva asked as she looked at the litter behind him.

Ramiel shrugged. "Forgive me Chichi-ue. I was not counting. Should I have counted?"

"No," she replied. "Don't worry about that." She had been thinking about the time when she and her companions would compete for the most kills. It was a pretty inappropriate thing to do right now. "This war has gone on long enough."

She raised her staff in the air and cast her next spell.

"[Summon Virtue of Elegance]"

The battle seemed to halt as the sky became cloudy. All eyes shifted upwards just in time to see the heavens part just above Shiva and a golden light shine from the hole in the clouds. Jaws began to drop as a graceful figure descended along with the light. The descending figure was that of a woman in a long white dress. The figure was barefoot, over three metres and had two gigantic white wings on its back. Its tranquil atmosphere put the hearts of many to peace, causing some to drop their weapons. No one could take their eyes from the figure, whose golden hair seemed to blend with the light.

This creature was a member of the angel species known commonly as God's Choir. Virtue of Elegance, an angel of the Second Order, a natural Bard that could wreak havoc with its voice alone. Shiva had summoned it because it was the only one that could end the battle in a single swoop without unintended casualties.

"Now then," Shiva said out loud, diverting some of the attention to her. "Let us begin the end."

* * *

"What... is that?" Draudiron heard the Prime Minister ask.

She did not look at him. Her eyes too were on the being that had just descended. From this distance she could not see it clearly but she determined it was Celestial Being. Could this be the white dove she had dreamt about? She hoped so. Her army outside the wall could not be called an army anymore. They were all but defeated, no more than a mere quarter of what they had been when they started. If this creature turned out to be an enemy she wouldn't know what to do.

"Is it on our side?" she heard a nearby archer ask. He sounded hopeful.

"Yes. Definitely!" one of his comrades replied. "Even from this distance I can tell that's an angel. God's Messenger has come to deliver us. WE'RE SAVED!"

A chorus of cheers rose among the soldiers on the walls. However, Draudiron remained quiet. Whether or not the creature was here to deliver them from their fate or confine them to it was undecided. Everyone would know soon enough though. Even from this distance she saw the being raise its hands to the sky. If she had been closer she would have seen than its head too was raised skywards, as if praising a deity up there. A moment later everyone on the battlefield and in the city heard a soft heavenly melody.

Draudiron suddenly felt her worries and fatigue vanish. The heavy burden she had been dragging along for the past couple of months was lifted. She felt free, freer than she had felt in years. Tears leaked out of the corners of her eyes as she continued to listen. The moment the song assaulted her ears she knew. This melody did not herald damnation, but salvation.

"We're saved," she heard the Prime Minister mutter. From the sound of it he too was crying. Draudiron did not look at him. He eyes never left the angel. "The Gods have come to deliver us."

After a couple of minutes the angel lowered its arms and the melody stopped. The queen and her attends atop the wall were too far away to see that the angel had now summoned a lute-like musical instrument along with a thin strip of wood with a very thin string attached to it. From so far away they did not see the angel bring the instruments together and begin to play. They did however hear the music that resulted from the action. It was different from before. The sound coming from the instrument sounded like the prelude to something terrible.

The angel began to sing again, but this time it was different. It was no longer one sweet voice they heard but countless, an entire choir. The voices they heard were both male and female. The earth began to tremble and with it the beastmen suddenly began to drop. This completely shocked everyone. None of them could understand what was happening. It was not the music that was killing them. Their deaths came at the hands of no one but themselves. They were taking their own lives!

This scene became more common as time elapsed. Another change happened in that moment, one that no one but the person affected felt. Draudiron's magic power began to rise. Realisation struck her as she looked upon the beastmen below. _The angel is coercing them to sacrifice themselves!_ The beastmen souls released from the shells were powering her! Although she did not feel her power rise to even come close to the amount she needed to cast her spell if hope was lost her heart filled with joy. At least with this she would not be powerless in the increasingly unlikely event the beastmen managed to climb the wall and enter the city.

The song ended in less than ten minutes and as it faded, so did the last beastman.

* * *

"Amen," Ramiel prayed as the song ended.

The Virtue put away its instruments and ascended back into the heavens. The hole in the clouds closed and not a moment later the clouds scattered, leaving the sky as clear as it was before they the summoning. However, the atmosphere was not the same. Cheers from the surviving humans suddenly littered the battlefield. None of them knew what had just happened. None of them cared. All that mattered was that they were saved. A miracle had happened before their very eyes!

The ones who knew what had really occurred could not take their eyes off the perpetrator. None of them said anything. What could they say in such a situation? _Thank you_ was clearly not enough to express their gratitude. They didn't know how to start a conversation with the person who was able to cast such a devastating spell.

"Amen." The spell caster herself did not pay attention to them. "With that it is done."

The two melodies Virtue of Elegance played were Schubert's _Ave Maria_ and Mozart's _Requiem_. _Ave Maria_ had been targeted at the humans to strengthen their resistance to _Requiem_. The second melody was one normally used by Summoners to coerce low-level creatures into sacrificing themselves for their benefit. The effects of self-sacrifice were twice great as those from forced sacrifice, which would allow a Summoner to call up a higher levelled creature with less effort. This time she had not sought to take advantage of the sacrifices though. Her only aim had been to kill the beastmen.

"We're withdrawing," she stated.

The declaration surprised Ramiel, but he did his best not to show it.

There would be a huge celebration in the city after this. Shiva was not in a hurry to make demands for saving them. She would let them have their moment before she approached their ruler. There was no need to hurry. Besides, her mana was low. Normally the range of Virtue of Elegance's music would not be as wide as it had been nor would the Virtue have been able to play for as long as it did without running out of MP. To make it possible she'd had to constantly provide it with MP.

She silently cast [Message]. The person at the other end of the spell responded without delay.

" _Chichi-ue, is there anything you need_?"

"Michael," she began. "I need you to tell Azazel, Shemyaza, Tamiel and Asbeel meet me tonight. Tell Azazel to contact me. I will give him the location then. And tell them to bring mana potions along."

Shiva had made the novice mistake of not bring any mana potions with her. _I am definitely not in any condition to meet the Dragon Queen._ "Okay Ramiel, let's go."

She grabbed hold of Ramiel's hand and teleported away, leaving Gargaran and the others with many questions.

-END-

* * *

I posted a picture of what Shiva should look like so free to check it out. Though I muxt warn you that the colour schemes are wrong and I feel the wings aren't drawn properly. My drawing skills suck but hopefully I'll be able to edit it until I'm satisfied later on.

Since for some reason I can't post the link here just head DeviantArt and search for Total Amateur Drawing. You can't miss it.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 8: Beast Purge**

The people of the dragon kingdom capital celebrated their victory over the beastmen from the moment the battle ended to well in the night. Most of them did not know what had occurred. They did not care either. The truth was a trivial matter for people who had just escaped death and being turned into livestock for the beasts. There had been no hope for them until the angel appeared above the skies of the city. Most of them had seen the radiant figure; all of them heard the beautiful songs of deliverance. The common masses never question the angel's origins. As far as they were concerned they had been saved by a miracle performed by the gods.

That day many went to church and offered their prayers to the Six Gods. The Priest held public sermons and everyone eagerly listened. Contributions to the church increased tenfold as the number of devotees to the gods reached a record high. All around the city men partied and got drunk. Toasts were exchanged in the name of the gods and in honour of the soldiers who died in defence of the capital.

* * *

While the common masses feasted and made merry the ruling class, or more specifically a childlike ruler and her Minister, held an important meeting in her throne room. Facing was the entire Blue Rose team, which had rushed over to her country after the battle, the surviving Slane Theocracy agents and Nimble. It seems all the surviving members of the Assault Squad were present, except Cerebrate. Having lost his entire team and almost dying himself, he was somewhere mourning them and nursing his wounded pride. She did not really care. She liked the fact that he was not there. Now of all times was a bad time to for him to violate her with his eyes.

"So you're saying you've met this person before?" she asked the warrior known as Gargaran once more.

The reason this meeting held was obvious. These people knew what had really happened on the battlefield. Draudiron sighed. Of course it had been too much to hope that it was a sign from the gods. They have never intervened before, why would they start now?

"Yes Your Highness," Gargaran replied. "Yesterday Tia and I saw her at the Mages Guild, claiming she can cast 6th Tier magic."

Under normal circumstances Draudiron would have laughed at this. Apparently the woman who had summoned the angel was young, supposedly in her late teens. For her to claim she could cast 6th Tier magic, which was in the realm of heroes, was ridiculous. It had taken the only known person to achieve. It over two hundred years to reach that point, no one would believe a teenager could achieve it.

"If I may be excused Your Highness," the leader the Slane Theocracy people began. "That summoning spell was above 6th Tier." This drew the eyes of everyone, many with shocked looks. "I've read about that angel. Virtue of Elegance, it's in the same tier as Dominion Authority."

It seems this shocked them even more, the Adventurers that is. Draudiron looked at her Minister, who shrugged in return. They knew about angels. They were the supposed messengers of the gods and were used by the Slane Theocracy in battle. That was as all Draudiron knew. She did not know their names and what tier magic was required to summon them.

"So what else can you tell me about this woman?" she asked.

That person had saved an entire city. She will make her appearance soon. That was what Draudiron thought. Only a naive and foolish ruler would believe otherwise. Even if what she had done had been simply out of the goodness of her heart there was no way she would not come and pay her a visit. Even the noblest heroes want to be acknowledged for their deeds. Druadiron suspected the young woman would visit her soon and demand something. The Dragon Queen was not an ungrateful person. The person had saved her city and by extension her kingdom so obviously she had to find a way to reward her. However, there was a chance this person would demand something ridiculous, like the throne. The thought of it made her uneasy. That was why she had to learn all she could about this person before she met her.

"This afternoon Gargaran and I investigated this individual," one of the Blue Rose twins began. Draudiron suspected it was the one who participated in the battle. "A person with her appearance is too noticeable and she clearly was not hiding. We were able to track her all the way to the inn she's staying at and though we didn't find her there we were at least able to get her name and that of her companions. The girl is called Shiva and her companion with the spear is known as Ramiel. There was another who goes by the name of Nia."

None of these names were familiar to the Dragon Queen. She looked around the room and saw that it was the case with almost all of them. Many of them had conflicted looks, probably because as Adventurers they considered themselves knowledgeable about monsters and famous warriors and magic casters. The fact that they had never heard of someone as powerful as this Shiva made them uneasy.

"Seriously," the Blue Rose magic caster sighed. "This is the third powerful individual we know nothing about. First Jaldabaoth, then Ainz Ooal Gown and now this Shiva, how many more are hiding in the woodworks?"

This question silenced everyone, sending them into their own thoughts. As for Draudiron she couldn't help but feel worried. The emergence of another powerful character was likely to change the situation in the region. Whether for better or for worse she could not tell, she just hoped that it was not the latter.

* * *

After defeating the Beastmen Army Shiva had not returned to the city. She teleported to a clear spot fifty kilometres from the city and used [Cottage] to erect a shelter for herself. Then she slept.

Angels had no need for sleep but, unlike undead, they could be put to sleep using magic. After leaving the battlefield Shiva cast a sleeping spell on herself. It had been over week since she came to this world. A lot has happened since that day. Usually when something happens, like when Zion was transported to this world and when she had killed the trolls, she would go to her room and think about it and calm her nerves. However, now she was tired. Although her body was in perfect condition her mind was exhausted. In that entire week since she came here she had not slept at all.

Since leaving the battlefield she had been plagued by thoughts she did not want. She had killed those beastmen easily. That was not what upset her. As far as she was concerned those beastmen deserved what they got. What troubled her was the fact that she killed them so easily. Killing those beastmen who previously had been one-sidedly slaughtering the humans had been as easy as stomping on an army of ants. She had realised then how dangerous she was. The humans on average were ten times weaker than beastmen. That meant a single flick of her pinkie could kill them. She had to be careful when dealing with them.

And so, because she was unwilling to think about it anymore she decided to sleep. It was the perfect solution to her problem. While sleeping she would stop thinking about everything and when she woke up the time would be closer to when she had to meet with the four she had called. Even though she had erected the cottage in the middle of nowhere she did not have to worry about anything since Ramiel would be guarding her.

It seemed like only a second had passed after she cast the sleeping spell on herself when she felt Ramiel tapping her shoulder gently to wake her up. Immediately her mind cleared and awoke. There was no drowsiness since never really needed the nap. She got up and looked at him.

"Is it time?"

Ramiel merely nodded. "Yes Chichi-ue."

"Okay."

Shiva dispelled [Cottage] and switched to her normal form. The clothes she had been wearing were replaced by her trademark white suit as six crystal wings sprouted from her back and a crystal halo began to float above her head. Silver light poured out of her and bathed the surroundings, turning night into day. Likewise Ramiel abandoned his human form and his chainmail was replaced by his white armour and his black spear was stored in his Item Box as he pulled out his trademark red one. The light coming from him merged with Shiva's, making the surroundings far brighter than day.

"Let's go!" Shiva ordered.

The two of them rose into the sky and flew eastwards. A few minutes later they arrived at a certain city.

Above it four beings hovered. They each had four black wings sprouting from their backs, identifying them as Cherubim and fallen angels. The first of them had a goat's head with black fur and curved horns. He was as tall as Ramiel. He wore black wizard robes. The fallen angel next to him had feline features similar to those of Penemue, only that her hair was black. She wore a black leather getup that was probably for stealth. Despite having the most human appearance, the one next to her was the most eye-catching. She was a classical Goth with a black leather top and a dark blue jean miniskirt. Her were legs covered in black pantyhose nylons and she wore black high heeled boots. Her black hair was long but one side had been shaved clean off and the other side had been braided into cornrows. She wore thick black eyeliner and shiny black lipstick. Her bottom lip, left nostril, right eyebrow and exposed bellybutton were a pierced and each ear was pierced at least five times. The last of them was even taller and beefier than Ramiel. He wore ebony armour and his head was that of an eagle with brown feathers.

When Shiva and Ramiel appeared before them they all bowed. "Shiva-sama. Ramiel-sama," they greeted.

"Well met," Shiva responded, "as ease." The after they straightened the goat headed fallen angel put out his hands and respectfully offered Shiva four vials of blue liquid. "Thank you Azazel," she said. _Though my mana has already recovered I might as well keep them. I might need them in the future._ Her attention turned to the feline girl, the gothic girl and the eagle headed man, calling their names as she did so. "Tamiel, Asbeel, Shemyaza. How are you all doing?"

The eagle headed man and the feline girl both bowed and expressed their gratitude at her for asking before they told her they were fine. The Goth girl, Asbeel, had a slight frown.

"I've been so bored Shiva-sama," she said with a pout. "It has been a long time since ya visited me."

Since Shiva alone had been coming to the guild hall for the past year she'd had a lot of time on her hands and, out of boredom, had familiarised herself with every inch of the Flying Fortress and its characters. Asbeel was probably referring to the time she checked her settings.

"I'll make sure to visit you in the future," Shiva replied, making the girl squeak in excitement. "Now," the change in her wiped Asbeel's cheerfulness away and replaced it with sombreness. "On to the reason I called the four of you here. Look down and tell me what you see."

The four angels looked down at the city below them. Even without Shiva and Ramiel illuminating the city it was not hard to spot what Shiva wanted them to see.

"There are beastmen and humans in the city," Shemyaza replied. "The humans seem to be slaves of the beastmen." There was a faint glow in his eyes as he continued, a sign that he was using [Omni-Sight]. "The beastmen are treating the humans like a food source."

"Exactly," Shiva said with a deep furrow. "What's happening down there utterly disgusts me. I find this act of depravity an affront to my existence. There are three more cities in which such vileness is being done and I want the four of you to purge everyone one of them. Leave not a single beastman alive!"

"Hai!" the four angels exclaimed.

"Good," Shiva said. "Make sure not to harm the humans while at it."

This time the response was slower and more hesitant, specifically from two of them. Shiva shot them warning looks as before she assigned them a city and sent them they had disappeared she turned to Ramiel and asked. "What do you think?"

Understanding what his creator was asking, he immediately replied. "There's nothing to worry about when it comes to Shemyaza and Tamiel. Azazel and Asbeel however, they're rabid. Like..." he stopped and cautiously looked at his _father_.

"Demons?" Shiva offered.

Among Heteromorphic beings angels were unique in that if someone killed them they would get penalised, more so then when they killed a Humanoid. On the other side of the spectrum were demons, who grant players the most bonuses. As expected the two races were mortal enemies and just like Christian myth the two were once a single race until some angels gave into their carnal desires and lost themselves, turning into demons. Of course in Yggdrasil an angel who fell too far would not become a demon, just like a demon who rose too high would not turn into an angel. Anyway, demons and angels hated each other to the core. Even the Seraphim guild had clashed with many demon guilds in Yggdrasil. Ramiel had refrained from saying the word probably because he believed it would anger her.

"I saw the bloodlust in their eyes too," she went on. "It's specifically because of their natures that I decided to give them this task. In the future we will be interacting with more of this world. I want to know if they can be trusted to control themselves, especially when there's no one watching them. If they fail this then obviously they can't."

"Oh," Ramiel mumbled comprehensively. A slight smile graced his lips, there was a hint of admiration in his eyes. "Chichi-ue very thoughtful."

Shiva looked away to hide the blush on her face from him. No one had ever called her thoughtful. "coughcoughAnyway, they're about to begin. If you see Asbeel's actions are going to harm a human I want you to intervene."

"Yes Chichi-ue," the Archangel replied. "What about Azazel?"

"Leave him to me. Now, they're starting. Let's keep quiet and watch."

* * *

Shemyaza flew to the city furthest from Shiva-sama. The security was quite lax as he only saw two beastmen atop the city wall. He swooped down and drew his broadsword, decapitating them with a single slash.

While hovering above the wall he used [Omni-Sight] to look around the city, counting the number of Beastmen in it. Four thousand seven hundred and thirty-four. With how weak they were Shemyaza could destroy them all in less than ten seconds. However, the city would pay a huge price and none of the humans would survive. He was specifically told not to do that. As a leader of the Watchers he would be setting a bad example to his juniors if he got a single human killed.

 _It can't be helped,_ he thought to himself. _As the last remaining El Shiva-sama's word is law._ Shiva-sama was his master. No matter her orders he would follow them to the letter. To him the only people with higher authority than Shiva-sama were Seraphim's leader Sephirah-sama, all NPCs in Zion were programmed to follow her before anyone else, including their own creators, and Zenji-sama, his creator.

Shemyaza landed on top of the wall and began to change. His wings disappeared, the feathers on his face vanished, revealing smooth golden skin, and those on top of his head turned to hair. His beak was replaced a mouth and a nose and pointed ears grew below his temples. Shemyaza now had the appearance of a High Elf from Yggdrasil.

Without hesitating he jumped down from the wall, something that would have crippled a normal person, and began his task.

He did not try to be sneaky as he executed his mission. As a warrior he found it shameful. Only cowards would resort to sneaking and trickery. Even though he believed this he would of course never say it out loud. He knew that each class had its use, even if he did not like it. Also saying that would earn him the enmity of Raphael-sama. Even though they were basically both in the First Order, the ruling class of Zion, there was still a huge gap in authority between them, so much so that the Watchers were subordinate to the Archangels, he himself was under Ramiel-sama. Angering an Archangel just was not worth it.

He circled around the entire city, spiralling from the city walls to the inside of the city. He killed all the beastmen he met, whether man or woman and the rare child. He hunted them in the streets and in their houses, kicking down their doors and cutting them down. The humans he left alone, completely ignoring them. Despite how pathetic and miserable they looked he couldn't care less about them. He was told not to harm them. It did not mean he should help them either.

Within ten minutes pained screeches and cries of panic could be heard everywhere. Within twenty minutes fifty beastmen gathered at the centre of the city, in what probably use to be the home of the mayor, to fend of this unknown threat. A dozen minutes later Shemyaza appeared before them. Upon seeing him the beastmen were dumbstruck. Among the Humanoid races elves might not be the weakest but they looked by far the most fragile. If not for the blood coating his broadsword none of them would have believed that he was the one going around killing all their comrades. Nevertheless, they quickly overcame the shock and charged him as a group, all of them uttering battle cries as they did so.

Half a minute later Shemyaza turned to leave the plaza. Having fulfilled his mission he did not feel accomplishment. How could he when his opponents were so weak? A man would not celebrate trampling an ant. What he felt was shame for having used his main weapon when to deal with these creatures when a fly swatter would have been more appropriate. Next time, if he was sent on such a mission again, he would use a kitchen knife or maybe even his bare hands.

* * *

Unlike Shemyaza who started on the outskirts of the city Tamiel began in the middle. She flew on to the balcony of whom she believed to be the beastman leader and changed to her Humanoid appearance. As much as she loved her true form it was not suitable for her current mission. That was why she adapted Dark Elf one.

She tiptoed in the room and found the beastman leader in a comfy bed naked with a beastman woman on one side and a human woman on the other, although there was a huge difference between the two females. The beastman woman was simply asleep and was breathing softly. As for the other woman, her eyes were wide open, displaying terror and immense pain. Her left arm was completely stripped of flesh and her chest had been ripped open. Her heart and lungs were missing. It seems while the beastman was enjoying himself he had been gnawing at her. Tamiel was judging. Even among their Elohim there were those with weird fetishes, for example Shiva-sama wanting to be called _Chichi-ue_ by the Archangels (Although she had to admit it was kind of cool).

Tamiel walked to the bedside and slashed both the beastman and his female companion's throat. The cuts were clean and silent, not alerting the guards stationed outside the door. If the guards had heard her she would have died of shame. Her reputation would be completely ruined!

Although her level was the lowest among the Watchers she was the stealthiest person in all of Zion, a better ninja than even her superior Raphael-sama. For her to be noticed before she struck her opponent, especially one so weak, she could not think of anything more shameful. If it ever happened she would go to Shiva-sama and beg for the sweet release of death.

But of course the guards did not hear her. It was nothing to be proud of. Only if they were level 100 would she be. She tiptoed towards the door and activated the skill [Phase]. As the name implied this skill allowed her to reach through the door and take out the guards. She managed to take them both out in millisecond, backstabbing them both in the heart with a pair of wakazashis before they could react. Tamiel stepped through the door and used [Omni-Sight] to see where the rest of them were.

Twenty minutes later she exited the silent manor, slitting a giant beastman's throat in the process. There was another beastman about three dozen metres from her, heading towards her. Tamiel calmly looked at him before she executed her next move, using the assassin skill [Shadow Step] she emerged from his shadow and stabbed him in the back, right where his heart was located. Then she went on a killing spree.

None of them ever saw her coming. Most of her kills were done using [Shadow Step], always getting them from behind or slitting their throats really fast from the front. None of them ever got the chance to raise an alarm. While going around killing the beastmen out in the open she spawned multiple shadow clones and ordered them to go inside the buildings and take care of those indoors. Even this was done without alerting anyone. Although Tamiel's shadow clones only possessed a quarter of her strength, it was more than enough to take care of them. Hell, one of her shadow clones could take all these beastmen on in a straight fight.

It took her a quarter of an hour to kill most of them. She found her last targets near the city gate. For some reason there were three dozen of them, just standing there discussing something, Tamiel did not care to find out. She used [Shadow Step] to once more to move to someone's shadow. This time though instead of stabbing the person she used another skill, [Shadow Dance]. It was the Ninja class' trump card. She would normally not use it against creatures of this level but this time she thought: _what the hell. It's not like I'll be forced to use it in the next twenty-four hours. I don't even remember the last time I used it!_ Over thirty shadow clones suddenly burst out of her, each selecting a different target and executing them before they noticed what was going on.

Tamiel herself did not attack anyone. After the skill activated she jumped as high as she could and resumed her original form. With her mission done there was no more reason for her to stay in this place. The shadow clones would disappear after five seconds.

* * *

 _So, no human casualties?_ Azazel questioned himself as he stood in front of the city gate. He was in his Humanoid form, a Dark Elf mage wearing black robes. After a second he shrugged as if it had nothing to do with him. _Oh well, I guess it can't be helped._

"Fire Wheel!" he called out the name of the spell he was casting. A circle of ten fireballs appeared before him, rotating clockwise at incredible speeds. He selected two of them and sent them towards the gate, resulting in a huge explosion that blasted the gate to smithereens.

Panicked shouts emerged from within the city. He heard someone yelling orders in that crude dialect of theirs known as Common Speech. It was a call for help and organisation. The person wanted the destroyed door barricaded. When Azazel emerged from the smoke and rubble of the destroyed gate he was met by over fifty beastmen, all of whom had their weapons pointed at him. A bloodthirsty smile appeared on his lips as he watched them.

"That's the spirit," he said to them, loud enough that they all heard him. "Please, take your best shot. There's nothing better than watching the expression of people change when they realise that they are totally screwed."

Dozens of arrows were fired at him. A couple of spears were thrown at him. Azazel did not erect defensive barriers. He did not try to avoid the weapons either. What was the point? They were completely harmless! Upon seeing that their weapons could not harm him the beastmen's expressions turned dark. Despair filled their eyes. Azazel loved it! The feeling of having someone's life in your hands, of them knowing it and being unable to do anything about it, of them knowing that you could inflict terrible pain to them before you killed them; few things gave him more pleasure.

He launched two more fire balls from his fire wheel, sending them into the beastmen. None of them survived. Their reinforcements arrived a minute later. It was another group of fifty. The moment the saw him standing there they all charged him with their weapons raised. Azazel would have used another two fireballs on them but this time there were humans nearby. Shiva-sama would scold him if there were any human casualties. So instead he used one fireball. The damage was not as much as the last time. There were even a few survivors. This did not disappoint him, in fact it delighted him. Since he couldn't use humans he would just use the beastmen instead.

He leisurely approached the injured beastmen and cast a spell on them. The beastmen could nothing but watch with terror filled eyes as their lives seeped away. Azazel watched on with disinterest as five slender figures crawled out of their corpses. The creatures had pale blue translucent skin with animal legs and a tail. In their clawed hands they each grasped an ice javelin. Legend has it that these creatures hailed from the Frozen Hells of Judecca, level 50 Ice Devils. When their entire bodies materialised they bowed to him and simultaneously asked, "what is thy bidding master?"

"Slaughter all the beastmen and do with their bodies as you will," Azazel declared, ignoring their sly and scheming tones. As a warlock he had dealt with their kind many times. Their scheming nature will come to nothing. "Don't touch the humans though. If you do..." Azazel let his killing intent finish his sentence, causing the demons to quiver in fear. The next moment they all hurried away from him, launching themselves on any beastman they could find. They did not in any way dare to touch the humans.

Devils, unlike regular demons, were a lawful race. They were highly intelligent and could follow orders to the letter, as long as you specify them and leave no holes to be exploited. Unlike ordinary demons whose nature was chaotic theirs was deceitful and one had to be very careful when making deals with them. Of course from time to time they enjoyed chaos, but it was all done with a specific intention.

 _They won't dare go against my orders,_ Azazel thought to himself. _Not when I can keep them here as long as I want. They are bound to me until I say otherwise and I can make life a nightmare for them as long as they're in my service._ A sinister smile crossed his lips. _I'm going to torture them after this. Haha, with how boring things have been lately it will serve as the perfect entertainment!_

When the Ice Devils disappeared from sight Azazel did not follow them. He turned around and left the city. There was nothing else to do. Organised massacres were not his style and he was not going to stay behind to watch it. If Shiva-sama had given him permission to deal with the situation as he saw fit he would have cast [Armageddon-Evil] and savoured the sight of rampant demons slaughtering everything in their sight. Honestly, there were few sights more beautiful.

* * *

Unlike the others Asbeel did not get have opportunity to choose between a stealthy and hands-on approach. The city she was supposed to liberate was the one where they met. With the El and Archangel hovering right above it the city was a bright at night as it was in the day. Everyone noticed it immediately. In the central plaza of the city hundreds were gathered, pointing at them. The expressions were a mixture of awe and concern.

With so many of them distracted, only a few noticed the fallen angel's descend. As her feet touched the ground her wings dissipated and her ears elongated. Her skin turned was as pale a sheet of paper, making it seem like she had never seen the sun since birth (which was not far from the truth. As a Watcher she guarded the ever night city of Babylon and rarely left it). This Humanoid appearance was that of a Forest Elf.

The moment she landed gun holsters materialised on her sides. She quickly drew the weapons and aimed at the closest beastmen. In the next moment a thunderous roar drowned the area, two bodies dropped to the ground with part of their heads missing. A minute after the guns went off silence dominated the area. Everyone stared at Asbeel in fear, their eyes occasionally switching from her strange appearance to her even more bizarre weapons. They were black in colour and well polished because the light given off by the two above bounced smoothly of their surface, giving everyone an ominous feeling.

"Haha!" Asbeel laughed out loud. "How d'ya like my .55 Magnums?"

To make her meaning clear she uttered the words in their primitive dialect. Sure enough they all understood her and in the next instant chaos broke out everywhere. Both beastmen and their human slaves scattered in different directions, determined to get away from her as fast as they could. Of course in the rush to do so many people were injured, specifically the weak and malnourished human slaves.

 _Shiva-sama is going to chew me out for this,_ Asbeel thought with a sigh. There was no helping it. She herself revelled in chaos, however, it was obvious a chaotic situation would result in human casualties. If that happened she would have to take responsibility, something she did not want. _I better keep the casualties at a minimum._

She raised her weapons and fired off several shots. Each bullet found a target and none were human. After five more shots the chambers had been emptied. Asbeel waited exactly one second before she started shooting again. There was no need for her to bring extra bullets because her magnums were magical. They reloaded themselves with bullets coming from God-knows-where. Each bullet she fired could easily penetrate an adamantite shield, so every bullet she fired was lethal, some of them taking out two or three people at once. So far there had yet to be human casualties, although there were a few who had been trampled. Some of her targets managed to duck out of sight because humans were unknowingly shielding them, annoying her greatly.

"Listen up here ya pathetic humans!" she yelled furiously. "Get out of my way if ya don't wanna get blown the fuck to Hell!"

They didn't need to be told twice. Even with the confusion the humans did they best to stay out of her way, allowing her to continue her beastman extermination as she pleased. Some beastmen tried to retaliate and would occasionally charge her in groups of ten. However, at full capacity Asbeel's guns housed six bullets each. Those beastman groups would all be eliminated in less than a second.

Upon seeing that their numbers were not enough the groups banded together in order to increase their chances. Asbeel watched them as they drew closer to her. A hundred armed beastmen and she could only look at them in with pity. She levelled and aimed both guns at them and fired only once. The bullets she fired were different this time. Instead of the usual silver they were red in colour. And when they hit their target they exploded. Their individual blast range was greater than that of [Fireball]. None of her attackers survived. This was her [Exploding Fire Bullet]. As member of the Spitfire class she could inject her mana into her bullets for different effects.

When some of the beastmen saw what happened they realised that they were no match for her and immediately tried to escape. It did not matter though. No matter where they hid in the city they could not escape her. Black bullets tore into them no matter where they were. These were her special Armour-Piercing Bullets, capable of reducing Legend grade armour to scrap. The concrete walls that stood between Asbeel and her targets were like paper to the bullets and they easily penetrated them to find their targets. With [Omni-Sight] none could hide from her sight. Asbeel could not help but pray to her creator giving the skill to her. It was without a doubt the Elohim's greatest gift to angelkind.

The fallen angel hunted down her targets for nearly an hour. None escaped her sight. There was even one who tried to take a human child hostage to prevent her from killing him. It did not work that way. She put a hole in his skull before he could finish making demands.

* * *

"At least we know who can't be trusted to go on a solo mission," Shiva said grimly, watching Asbeel's actions below.

Despite only using a fraction of her destructive capabilities countless humans were hurt in the fallen angel's assaults. Some of them would probably would have died it not for the fact that the light Shiva and Ramiel were giving off had healing properties. There was even an instance when Ramiel had to use [Divine Intervention] to save an injured boy, something Asbeel did not noticed as she deeply engrossed in slaughtering the beastmen. Shiva could not help but thank the past her for assigning the fallen angel to clear the city below them. She could not imagine the catastrophe that would have resulted of her being sent to another city.

"Shemyaza and Azazel performed well," she continued. "Tamiel's performance was excellent! She's the perfect candidate for stealth missions."

Ramiel stood by her side and agreed with everything she said. In time the Watchers returned to her one by one. First Azazel using a teleportation spell, then Tamiel swooped by and half a dozen minutes later Shemyaza joined them. Asbeel was the last to return. A satisfied smirk was plastered all over her face. The four of them looked at Shiva expectantly.

"Thank you all for your help," she said to them, a Gate] appeared behind her as she continued. "I have evaluated your performance. Please return to Zion."

They all bowed happily and Shemyaza responded with: "It's a pleasure to serve Shiva-sama."

"Umu," she silently acknowledged, watching them as they entered the portal. Then she turned to Ramiel. "We're heading back to Zion as well. Once we get to the other side of the [Gate] inform your siblings that I want all of you in the Seraph Palace throne room."

She had decided to enlist the help of her children to come up with the best strategy to use against Dragon Queen. At the first break of Dawn she would pay her a visit.

-END-

 _Heteromorphic Races_

Shemyaza: The Prideful General

Job: Co-Leader of the Watchers of Babylon

Alignment: Great Evil, Sense of Justice: -300

Racial Level: Angel 10

Power 10

Cherub 10

Job level: Fighter 15

Warrior 10

Asura 10

Marshal 5

Others

Racial Level: 30, Job Level: 65, Total Level: 95

HP: 95, MP: 10, PHYATK: 90, PHYDEF: 85, AGI: 75, MAGATK: 5, MAGDEF: 75, RESIST: 85, SPECIAL: 60

####

 _Heteromorphic Races_

Tamiel: The Mistress of Stealth

Job: One of the Watchers of Babylon

Alignment: Evil, Sense of Justice: -250

Racial Level: Angel 10

Power 10

Cherub 5

Job Level: Thief 10

Rogue 10

Nightblade 10

Assassin 10

Shadow 10

Ninja 15

Racial Level: 25, Job Level: 65, Total Level: 90

HP: 60, MP: 40, PHYATK: 55, PHYDEF: 50, AGI: 80, MAGATK: 30, MAGDEF: 50, RESIST: 70, SPECIAL: 35


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 9: A Ruler's Conduct**

It was only an hour after dawn and the throne room was filled to the brim. Nobles, merchants and everyone who held even a bit of status was in attendance. Evileye sighed at the sight. When everyone with influence was gathered in the same place it was never a good sign. The throne room's occupants all had sweaty expressions and eyes filled with worry. The reason was of course because of the visitor they would have today.

As a foreigner and a person who lacked status Evileye should not have been in the throne room at that time. However, the visitor was very dangerous and their motive was unknown. If she became hostile the queen's guards would not be able to restrain her. That was why Blue Rose had been hired. They were an Adamantite ranked Adventurer group known in all the surrounding countries. If the visitor's intention was unfriendly surely they could restrain her.

That was what everyone was thinking as they looked at Blue Rose's leader.

However, none of the members of Blue Rose believed they stood a chance against her, not after listening to Gargaran describe what she had seen. When the queen's minister had first approached them and offered to hire them Evileye's first thought was to decline and leave the country. However, Blue Rose was unfortunately made up of thick headed fools who grew up listening to heroic tales. She had been outvoted four to one. And so she had no choice but to be here, constantly glaring at Lakyus and Gargaran. Even though her face was covered by a mask she knew they knew she was upset but they ignored her. This made Evileye angry. _Hmf, and they called me irrational when I wanted to go and see Momon-sama,_ she mentally vented.

Her train of thought was cut short when the doors opened to admit the visitor. Suddenly the room that had been filled with quiet murmurs fell into complete silence. Everyone turned to the door and waited expectantly.

The person who stepped through the door was a youth of dark skin with hair white as snow and wore a suit to match. Her eyes were crimson, a deeper shade than Evileye's own. She was beautiful and had a dignified look about her. Her eyes looked straight ahead, trained on the queen, as she stepped onto the red carpet. In that moment Evileye stole a glance at the queen and saw her gulp uncomfortably. Even the members of her team were wary of the woman.

Behind the woman was a man in white armour. He stood at nearly two metres with orange spiky hair and carried a red spear that made Evileye uncomfortable. Unlike the young woman this man's eyes swept everywhere, watching everyone with vigilance. From the way he behaved he was probably her bodyguard. The strength radiating from him made Evileye want to leave this place as fast as she could. She looked at her teammates who were still looking at young woman. It seems they did not notice.

Behind the bodyguard was a shorter man with black hair and a beard. He seemed ordinary compared to the other two but Evileye felt something was off with him. She couldn't place it though and after seconds of trying to and failing she gave up and her sight returned to the young woman.

As she approached the throne the young woman's eyes left the queen's and to Evileye's surprise came to rest on her. Although it was only for a moment her intense gaze made her want to run away and was quite relieved when she looked away. However, her gaze, and that of her bodyguard, came to rest Lakyus or more accurately, her sword. The hostility in their eyes was not missed by any of Blue Rose's members. Gargaran inched closer to their leader, her eyes showing that she was ready to protect her with her life.

Luckily the two strangers were not looking for a fight and their attention returned to the queen. The young woman stopped when she reached the foot of the stairs to the throne and bowed to the childlike figure sitting on it. The black haired man bowed as well but the young woman's bodyguard just stood behind her. From his expression one could tell he thought bowing to the queen was beneath him and he was not happy that his charge had done it. His actions of course angered many in the room but no one dared to voice their dissatisfaction.

It was at this moment that the young woman spoke. "Your Majesty Queen Draudiron Oriculus. It is a pleasure to meet you at last. I am Shiva of Seraphim and behind me are my companions Ramiel and Niahoggr D'zak."

 _Niahoggr D'zak,_ Evileye thought to herself. _I've heard that name before._ However, she could not place it.

It seems though the queen knew who Niahoggr D'zak was because she gasped at the name. But her bewilderment only lasted a moment before her expression returned to normal.

"It is an honour to meet you," the queen said in her childish voice, looking at each of them. "Shiva-sama, Ramiel-sama and Niahoggr-sama. Please tell me Shiva-sama, where do you hail from?"

"My home is in the Gratis Plains," Shiva replied, causing some of the people in attendance to gasp. The Gratis Plains were known for being empty and unkind to humans. Three quarters of it was devoid of animal life and the last quarter was home to multiple Demi-Human races who were constantly at war with each other. Shiva did not pay mind to anyone who gasped and continued. "After staying there for a long time an adventurous sense overcame me and I decided to explore the world, which is how I ended up here." She gave the queen a faint smile as she said her next bit. "I must say, it's quite fortunate that I passed by at this moment. I can't even imagine what would have happened if I had decided to venture out a day or two later."

Shiva's words hit everyone hard. The queen and some nobles flinched. Even the members of her team reacted to these words. If Shiva had not appeared when she did this city, and probably the rest of the country, would have fallen in the hands of the beastmen and the citizen would have been demoted to livestock. Tia and Gargaran would have perished in the attack on the city.

The first to recover was Queen Draudiron and she responded with humility, something rarely displayed by rulers. "And for your help we of the Draconic Kingdom express our gratitude. Is there any way we can repay you?"

"Yes of course," Shiva answered. "But first your Majesty; would you mind if I addressed your court directly."

"Um- of course not," Draudiron said, but Evileye saw the worry in her eyes. "Go ahead."

"Thank you," Shiva bowed again, causing Ramiel's brow the crease even more. Without giving him any mind she turned to face the gathered nobles and when she spoke her voice was not as polite as it was when she had been talking to the queen. "Alright, I want to know, who of you own the lands and cities that were captured by the beastmen?"

There was an uncomfortable shuffle in the audience as four men were pushed to the front. Three among them were old while the other was middle-aged. They tried to introduce themselves but Shiva stopped them by rudely proclaiming: "I don't care who you are. I just want to know why you are here and not trying to liberate those cities."

"What do you mean miss?" one of the old men asked, puzzled. "Our forces are not strong enough to deal with those filthy beastmen. If they were we would have taken the fight to those bastards long ago."

"Is that so?" Shiva asked, her face had become expressionless.

"Yes," another old man answered. "It was all we could do to escape with our families."

"And what of your subjects, the people who were left behind?" Shiva questioned. "Why did you not try to save them?"

The third old man spoke next. "We thought it my lady. Unfortunately there had just not been enough time so we had to make a choice between our subjects and our families. You understand why we chose our families don't you my lady?"

"That I do," Shiva said with a sombre tone. "But why are you here?"

The old man and his companions, and practically everyone in the room, was confused. "What do you mean my lady?"

Shiva sighed before she stared the man straight in the face. "Have you ever heard the phrase _the captain goes down with the ship_? It means a captain is responsible for his ship and its crew and if disaster strikes he will save them or die trying. Do you understand what I'm getting at?"

The middle-aged noble looked at Shiva as if she had grown a second head. "Surely you jest young lady. You would have us give our lives for commoners?" The whole idea sounded preposterous. Almost everyone in the throne room now looked at the white haired woman with disdain.

"Do I look like I'm joking?" Shiva's serious tone sobered many of them up. Unfortunately the middle-aged noble was not one of them. He abandoned the courteous pretence and went full on hostility.

"Little girl," he said with a mocking tone. "Do you have any idea what you're talking about?"

Evileye quickly looked at the queen and saw her features had turned unpleasant after the middle-aged noble's comment. Her hands, which were now tightly gripping the arms of the throne, had been drained of all colour. The look she gave Shiva was one of fear, she expected the young would woman to lose it any moment and attack the foolish noble. Evileye could almost feel the Queen Draudiron's dilemma; if Shiva attacked the noble and she intervened she would be destroyed with him and if she let Shiva do as she pleases in her own court she would become the laughing stock of all the rulers in neighbouring kingdoms, not to mention she might lose the support of her subjects. It was a really tough choice for her.

Luckily she did not have to make it because Shiva did not seem in the least bit affected by the man's words. The same however could not be said for her bodyguard.

"You foolish mortal!" Ramiel hissed. He grabbed his spear and moved towards the man. "You dare!"

No one believed for a second that Ramiel would not kill the man. Everyone distanced themselves from him and the man himself could only watch on in terror as Ramiel raised his spear. Fortunately, before Ramiel acted the Shiva put a stop to it. Her mere mention of his name halted his footsteps. Then he retreated to stand next to his charge.

"Please forgive me for rush actions," he muttered. His words were carried over to half the people in attendance.

"It's fine," Shiva stated calmly. "Such pettiness is more amusing than insulting, so you needn't take offense." The nobleman seemed he was going to retaliate but in the end, much to everyone's relief, thought the better of it. Shiva's next question caught not only him but everyone else off guard. "Do you still lay claim to those lands?"

"What?" the four noblemen asked with perplexed tones.

Shiva calmly repeated her question and put more emphasis into it. "Even though the beastmen now hold your territories do you still clam them as your own?"

"Of course," one of the older noblemen replied. "Our families have owned those lands for generations. We were born on those lands and plan for our sons to succeed us. Those lands are rightfully ours!"

This response was natural and many in the room agreed with it. Even Lakyus gave a slight nod of support. However, Shiva seemed to find something wrong with it because she sighed in what looked like resignation.

"I'm sure you are all aware of how conquest works," she said unexpectedly. "Those lands were captured by the beastmen hence they now belong to them. You have no stake at them." This time it was Shiva's turn to mock the nobleman. "Unless of course you retake them."

No one reacted to this statement. Evileye was certain that if Blue Rose were hired it was certain they would liberate the captured cities from the beastman scourge. However, for this country's nobles it was different. If they'd had the power to retake their cities the country would not have sunk into its current state.

"Ah! So now we're on the same page?" Shiva exclaimed. "Good to know. Well, last night while many of you were celebrating I took the liberty of driving the beastmen out of those cities so they belong to me now. Does anyone object?"

The girl's casual statement shocked everyone. Under normal circumstances no one would have believed what she had just said, but everyone present knew that this youth was responsible for the events that happened the previous day. None could deny that she was capable of doing what she claimed. When they saw how serious her expression was they could do not but accept what she claimed as fact. And of course her taking the lands for herself did not sit well with the four noblemen.

"You're joking right?" the middle aged man repeated.

"You think so?" Shiva asked contemptuously.

"This is madness!" one of the older men cried out. His gaze turned to the childlike figure on the throne. "Your Majesty please."

However, the queen said nothing. Although her hands had slackened on the thrones arms and regained their colour this time it was her face that was drained of colour. Shiva's declaration about taking four of the Draconic Kingdom's cities completely paralysed her. If the white haired youth did so she would have more territory and, by extension, more power than the queen herself. Faced with this new problem and the pleading looks of her subjects, Evileye could imagine that what this queen desired more than anything right now was to find a dark hole to hide in.

"We were just talking about the law of conquest and no one objected then," Shiva said matter-of-factly. "So why the objection now?"

Unable to endure the humiliation any longer the middle aged noble furiously stepped forward and approached her. "You know very well why we object! Who are you to covet our lands for yourself? DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHO I AM YOU LITTLE BI-"

The man's voice trailed there and his expression became fearful. No one knew how it happened. One moment he was angrily stomping towards Shiva and the next she was pointing a katana as long as her body at his throat. Many audibly gulped as they stared at the weapon. Fear and awe merged as they gazed at the golden hilt and crystal blade. Large amounts of magic pulsed from the blade of the sword, scaring Evileye to her core. The weapon in Shiva's hand was definitely a legendary weapon, one of a higher grade than Kilineiram.

"You know, I hate nobles," Shiva said softly. No one missed the underlined threat in her voice. "They are arrogant and entitled, believing the world should kneel at their feet because of their position, a position which was inherited and not earned." These words hit many of them hard and Shiva paused to let them sink in. "Now mortal, consider your last words carefully because they might be your last."

 _There it is again,_ Evileye thought. It was the second time word mortal was used to describe the man. Clearly that was how Shiva and Ramiel viewed humans, which meant they were of a different race. _They must be Heteromorphs, but what race?_ Among all the race groups Heteromorphs were the most numerous and diverse. Evileye knew of very few races which resembled humans, but she could not place them. They were probably of a race she had never encountered before.

 _It's not like we're obligated to fight them,_ she thought to herself. The only reason Blue Rose was here was to protect the queen. If Shiva decided to kill the foolish noble right now they would not do anything, not like they wanted to anyway. Both Lakyus, Gargaran and even the twins were watching him with disdain.

"If you have an issue with it you're welcome to retake them," the white haired woman went on. "But if you plan to do that expect resistance on my end."

The four nobles backed down when they heard that and could only respond with eyes full of hatred. Seeing that her warning had been received Shiva gave a satisfied smile and withdrew her sword. In that moment it turned into a magic staff, which she held close to her. "I appreciate your cooperation," she said in a tone that took obvious jabs at the middle aged noble. "Now as lord of those cities my first act will be to offer them to Queen Draudiron Oriculus."

"WHAT!"

Everyone was surprised at this young woman's actions, especially the four nobles she had blatantly robbed and the queen herself. What had been a look of despair on Draudiron's face now became one of shock and confusion, then her eyes became teary.

The four noblemen were of course not going to let it go so easily. "What! You can't do this! Your Majes-"

"Gentlemen remember those are my lands. I can do with them as I please," Shiva interrupted them. "If you have any grievances please take them up with me." That shut them up, prompting her to continue. "I have no interest in ruling, but I also don't want to give the lands to people who care nothing of the commoners." She turned to face the queen and looked her right in the eyes. "Which is why I'm giving them to you your Majesty. I only ask for two simple favours in return."

The queen did not take long to reply even though she appeared hesitant. "Please name them."

"The first is that you not return the lands to these fools," Shiva stated seriously. "I would take it as a personal insult after all my efforts. The second favour, I would like to speak to you, in private."

Those words caught everyone by surprise. Suddenly the entire hall erupted in protests with many people demanding to know why Shiva would ask for a private audience. Some among them blatantly claimed that she wanted to assassinate the queen. Even Blue Rose did not know how to react. They were hired to protect Draudiron. That would not be possible if they left her alone.

"Your Majesty-" Lakyus began, but she was interrupted.

"It's fine," the queen shot her down. Her gaze turned to Shiva. "I would happy to oblige. Everyone, please leave the room!"

Her tone left no room for debate. Everyone filed out of the room, many of who muttered angrily to each other, obviously dissatisfied with the way the meeting had gone. Blue Rose followed after Ramiel and Niahoggr.

"Is this wise?"Tina whispered as they filed out.

"No it's not," Lakyus replied in a resigned manner. "But there's nothing we can do. The queen herself requested it."

"It's not like we would have been much help anyway," Evileye added. "That Niahoggr doesn't appear too strong but Ramiel and Shiva are beyond our level."

"Really?" Tia asked, surprised.

"I guessed as much," Gargaran said calmly. She looked at Tia. "Weren't you on the battlefield yesterday?"

"I was," Tia said unhappily. "You knocked me out, remember?"

"Oh," Gargaran responded as if recalling the incident. "I don't think we need to worry about anything though. She seems like a good person."

"I hope so," Evileye said quietly. "I truly hope so"

* * *

Silence reined after everyone left. Draudiron could not calm her heart as she looked at Shiva. Sure she had accepted her request for them to talk in private but she did it because she feared what the woman would do if she had refused. She could not help feel a little on edge. What did the woman want to discuss with her?

"I thought they'd never leave," Shiva sighed, much to her surprise. The young woman's face loosened up and her manner of speaking became less formal. "Seriously, those guys are so annoying. How do you stand them?"

Draudiron's response was an awkward "hahaha."

"All that talking has given me a craving for fried meat," Shiva continued. Her tone, though informal, was now much more polite than when the room had been occupied. "What about you? You hungry?"

"Er..." Draudiron clearly did not know how to react to this. Shiva's change of character had her completely off balance. "Sure."

"Great!" Shiva said with a smile. Then she muttered, "[Gate]"

Before Draudiron's eyes a vortex of complete darkness opened up, causing her to panic. However, her panic turned to bewilderment when two women emerged from the darkness. They wore white tunics that covered them from neck to toe and veils atop their heads. They did not hide their faces though, and both of them wore a peculiar golden necklace with a six winged figure. Their appearance surprised Draudiron even more. Although she could did not know what their necklaces signified she was familiar with the clothes they wore, after all they were common in the Slane Theocracy. These women wore habids, they were nuns!

 _But what would nuns be doing setting up a table for us?_ Her gaze turned Shiva once more. Just who was this person? Not only could Shiva cast a spell she was sure only existed in legends but she also had servants who were nuns. Under normal circumstances Draudiron would have thought the young woman was a religious leader. However, that notion flew out upon recalling the company the girl kept.

"Thank you for your help," Shiva told the two nuns after they had gone back and forth, in and out of the dark portal, to set up the table.

The expressions on the nuns' faces were ones of elation, as if they were in the presence of a deity. "Th-th-there's no need to thank us Sh-Shiva-sama!" one of them cried with much difficulty. "We'll do anything for you!"

After witnessing this Draudiron realised that Shiva would keep surprising her and thereby keep her off balance for as long as they were alone. It could be that this was part of her ploy to get the upper hand on whatever they were going to discuss. She decided that from then on she would do her best not be astounded by the young woman.

"Ah!" Shiva exclaimed with elation as she looked at the food on the table. "Those cooks have really outdone themselves. Shrimp, beef, lobster, sushi, chicken and pork, I have to thank whoever made this meal." She let go of her staff, letting it float midair, and sat at the table. Then she looked at Draudiron. "Okay your Majesty. Time to eat."

Draudiron was a little suspicious of her invitation. What kind of game was this woman playing? She left her throne and joined her at the table though. Obviously she did not believe Shiva was trying to poison her. With the obvious disparity in their strengths there would be no need for the white haired woman to scheme against her.

By the time she sat down at the table the other woman had already filled her plate with pork and was digging into it with a lot of enthusiasm. The silverware by her side was completely ignored as she grasped the meat with her hands and bit into it like an animal. Draudiron was a little put off by the lack of table manners. _She's behaving like an animal!_

After finishing her slab of meat Shiva looked at the Draconic Queen, who had not touched the food yet. Draudiron was surprised to see that despite her uncouth manner of dining there were no food bits on her face or clothes.

"There's no need to keep up appearances," Shiva said to her, picking up another piece of meat. "It's only us girls in here. The room has been completely sealed off from everything else. No one will see or hear us."

The statement that was meant to be reassuring had the opposite effect. If the throne room was completely sealed off from the rest of the world then no matter what happened here no one would be aware of it. That was a very scary thought.

Some of the food on the table Draudiron had never seen before, like shellfish and raw fish. However, she did not shy away from them. People from different regions had different food and customs, some of which might be better than the ones she is familiar with. As a ruler Draudiron fully embraced that notion. She scooped the raw fish onto her plate.

"That's sushi," Shiva told after seeing her uncertainty. "It use to be a popular dish in my country. You usually eat them with chopsticks." Shiva pointed to two thin wooden sticks on at the queen's side. "But they are a little hard to handle. A fork would be more appropriate."

Draudiron took her advice and stabbed the sushi with her fork. Then she brought it to her mouth and tasted it and- _Oh Gods! This is so good!_ She took another slice.

Ten minutes passed in which both parties quietly savoured the food. Draudiron was enjoying the flavour of exotic dishes while Shiva was finally learning how certain foods tasted like. Back in her world these dishes could not be prepared anymore or were too expensive. For example all fish species used for sushi were extinct and shellfish was mutated and inedible. As for pork it was so rare one literally had to sell both kidneys to obtain just a little bit, and sometimes it might not be enough. Not that Shiva was complaining. She had grown up in stable family. Both her parents had been winners and could at least afford solid food. Most people on Earth never got the chance to savour food. They got their nourishment from plastic sacks filled with liquid nutrients.

"How is the food?" she asked the queen.

"Very good," Draudiron replied. Shiva smiled at the response and returned to her own, she was now eating lobster. After another minute of silence the childlike queen put down her utensils and asked a question. "Shiva-sama, how is it that you came to be acquainted with the Shadow Dragon Lord?"

She had been shocked that the golem following this young woman was brimming with wild magic. Her disbelief had increased when he was introduced as Niahoggr D'zar. From then on Draudiron refused to think about the fact that he was obediently following this young woman. For someone of such repute to take orders from Shiva said a lot about her strength. Draudiron felt that it madealso made her more mysterious.

"Some of my subordinates stumbled upon his lair and we came to an agreement," Shiva answered casually. "It's not a particularly interesting story."

"Oh," Draudiron of course felt the woman was down playing the encounter but she did not dare to question her further. She returned to her food, or had planned to before Shiva interrupted her.

"Forgive my rudeness your Majesty," she began. "Why do you disguise yourself as a child?"

The question froze the Dragon Queen's actions. It was common knowledge that her age did not correspond to her appearance but no one had ever asked her reason for taking the form of a child. Of course her minister had been the one who had suggested it, apparently to make herself more appealing to her subjects.

"Er..." she truly did not know how to respond.

"You look cute," Shiva continued. "But I find it a tragedy that you have to use such a form to rule your country. Sure your childish form has brought you the love of your people but not their respect, and especially not that of neighbouring countries. Perhaps that was the reason why beastmen attacked your country. That and the fact that your and predecessors hadn't done a thing about it."

Draudiron was speechless. She sensed that this was the real reason Shiva had requested a private audience with her and when they got down to business the other party was not pulling any punches. Shiva's comment made her feel ashamed of herself and a little angry at the woman. _As if I don't already know,_ she thought to herself.

"What would you know?" she snarled. Her current expression did not fit her childish appearance. All thoughts of politeness were abandoned. "Do you think I like looking like this? This form is the reason many of my supporters stuck with me despite the ongoing crisis. It's not like I have the power to singlehandedly destroy countries! Do I look like fucking Landfall to you?"

For the first time since meeting her she saw uncertainty in the woman's eyes. Her outburst had surprised Shiva and herself even more. Whether to stay in her current form or return to her original appearance was a question she asked herself on a daily basis. If not for the pleas of her minister she would have long discarded it. As much love as this childish appearance garnered her the country's love it made her peers view her as a child and even attracted letches like Cerebrate. She definitely did not appreciate his attention! So yes, even if she was being extremely antagonistic what would this woman know? She knew not what Draudiron had been through.

It only took a moment for Shiva to recover and respond, and her tone was not as hostile as the queen's. "Sure your methods might have earned you the support of your people, but this is not the conduct a ruler should have. People follow rulers not because they want to protect them, but because they want to be protected by them. You let the beastmen gain a foothold in your country and I bet you've been trying to reassure them everything is going to be fine while doing nothing about the problem."

At the words of the woman Draudiron could not help but feel even more ashamed. Everything Shiva said was true. While the beastmen had been attacking the villages on their borders for generations no one had done a thing about it. Both she and her predecessors had allowed them to do as they pleased in hopes of appeasing them and avoiding them. All that had done was embolden the Beastman Kingdom over the years until they decided to forgo the small-time raids and launch a full-scale invasion. If Shiva had not appeared the previous day she would have been forced to sacrifice countless souls to repel them with wild magic.

"What would you have me do?" she said weakly. In that moment a dam broke and tears streamed down her face. "We do have the power to protect ourselves and even have to beg other nations to help us."

Shiva watched her sob for about a minute before she spoke. Her tone was slightly annoyed. "First off wipe those tears away. They are unbefitting of a ruler." Draudiron was shocked by her cold tone, but obeyed. "Now return to your original form. Proudly displaying your true form is a sign of confidence, something every ruler needs."

This time Draudiron hesitated. "What about my clothes?"

"What about them?" Shiva looked confused.

"When I change they will tear. The clothes that fit my true form are in my chaimbers."

"Oh," Shiva began to scratch the back of her hand. "I did not thing about that." In a much lower voice she muttered. "So your clothes don't change to accommodate the wearer?"

"Huh? Of course not," Draudiron replied. "Only clothes infused with magic do that and they're expensive. I only have two pairs of those."

"Oh," Shiva said. She stretched out her hand and a black elegant dress suddenly appeared in it. "You can wear this. However, I'll need it back after we're done. Azazel and Ein won't appreciate me giving Echidna's stuff away."

Draudiron stood up and took the dress without arguing. Her eyes glazed as she looked at it. Just from the texture of the dress she could tell that it was worth more than all her clothes put together. She hesitated to put it on.

"If you feel uncomfortable changing in my presence I could look the other way until you're done," Shiva offered.

"No. I'm fine," Draudiron assured.

She switched out of her clothes and put on the dress, it hung quite comfortably on her body. Then she began to change. Her height increased to the point where she became almost as tall as Shiva. Her face matured and her body became more curvature. After the transformation was done where there was previously a child stood an elegant woman whose age ranged from early thirties to forties.

"You look amazing," Shiva complimented her, causing her to blush. It had been a long time since someone complimented this side of her.

"Thank you," she replied. Her voice was sultry and mature.

"Now then," Shiva quickly moved on with her agenda. "I proposed this private conversation because I wanted to propose an alliance."

"An alliance?" Draudiron was surprised. "Why?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Shiva replied. "I can help you and you can help me." She paused for a while and continued. Her voice this time contained a bit of scorn. "Yesterday I was watching your soldiers on the battlefield and I couldn't help but wonder; the person who trained them should be hanged. I've never seen such pathetic soldiers. It's almost as if they were peasants."

 _They were peasants_ , Draudiron almost rebuked. If she said that she knew the woman would not think well of her for sending untrained commoners off to battle. In the end she decided to keep quiet.

"The general was much worse," Shiva continued. "There had been no planning, no strategy. It looked like he simply sent the soldiers out and hoped for the best." After anther moment of silence she said. "I can help train your soldiers."

"And what would you want in return?" Draudiron asked the young woman.

"Nothing much," Shiva replied casually. "I simply want information on the neighbouring area and access to the Mages and Adventurers' Guilds."

Draudiron thought about it for a moment. On her side it was a good deal and would not cost much. However, there were a few problems with that.

"I don't know if information I have will satisfy you," she said. "And I have no power over the guilds. What do you want from them?"

The reason the Adventurers' Guild was left alone by countries was because its battle might surpassed that off the countries and Adventurers valued their freedom. Otherwise the countries would have intervened long ago and demanded fealty. What would Shiva want with such individuals?

"Having more than one source of information won't hurt," the young woman simply replied. "If you can't do anything about the guilds then it's fine, I'm sure I can get in on my own. I just wanted preferential treatment. So do we have an alliance or not?"

Draudiron did not have to think about it for long. This was a good deal for her. However-

"What are your true intentions?"

There was no way she was going to believe Shiva would enter an alliance that was so clearly disadvantageous to her. She must have another agenda.

"I simply wish to help out a fellow female ruler. If my actions seem too suspicious you do not have to accept."

"If you put it like that then I accept," Draudiron responded. She could worry later about what the woman was truly after.

"Good," Shiva said and she gave her a wide smile. "We can discuss the formalities later. As for now; are you going to let the beastmen get away with what they did to your country or do you want us to retaliate?"

-END-

 _Heteromorphic Races_

Azazel: The Demonic Master of Sacrifice

Job: Co-Leader of the Watchers

Alignment: Extreme Evil, Sense of Justice: -500

Racial Level: Angel 10

Dominion 10

Cherub 15

Job: Mage 15

Wizard 15

Warlock 15

Sage 5

Prince of Darkness 10

Racial Level: 35, Job level: 60, Total Level: 95

HP: 55, MP: 95, PHYATK: 10, PHYDEF: 60, AGI: 20, MAGATK: 90, MAGDEF: 75, RESIST: 75, SPECIAL: 80

####

 _Heteromorphic Races_

Asbeel: Angel of Destruction

Job: One of the Watchers of Babylon

Alignment: Great Evil, Sense of Justice: -400

Racial Level: Angel 10

Power: 10

Cherub: 7

Job Level: Gunner 15

Sharpshooter 15

Gunslinger 10

Spitfire 15

Chaos 10

Racial Level: 27, Job Level: 65, Total Level: 92

HP: 70, MP: 50, PHYTAK: 65, PHYDEF: 55, AGI: 50, MAGATK: 50, MAGDEF: 55, RESIST: 60, SPECIAL: 75

* * *

 _It's been three months since my last update. I apologise. My life was a mess, still a mess, and I was stubbornly trying to post chapter 8 and 9 together.  
_

 _Thanks to everyone who supports this. I'll try to update faster next time._


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 10: Judgement of the Beasts**

"They have been in there for over an hour," Evileye whispered to her comrades. "What are they doing?"

When Queen Draudiron ordered the throne room cleared she had been the one who had objected the least. However, as time went by her childish tendencies seem to take over her usually logical mind. Although her face was hidden Lakyus imagined under the alabaster mask was the face of a pouting child about to go on a rant.

"Aw, is the little Chibiwibi bored?" Gargaran too noticed, and of course she was not passing up the opportunity to make fun of their magic caster.

But this was not the time to or place for their usual banter. She shot both of them a warning look and made sure both understood the meaning behind the look. As the leader of Blue Rose it was her duty to not only keep the peace but make sure they behaved in public, which was an honestly a very difficult job. Being Adamantite level Adventurers few people dared to comment on their misbehaviour. It did not make some of the things her comrades did and said any less embarrassing though. Sometimes Lakyus wished the old hag was still here to discipline them.

"Right now is not the time for childish quarrels," She reprimanded them. After doing so she looked at Evileye. "Besides, if you're feeling annoyed think about how these nobles feel."

The nobles mentioned were shifting around impatiently, occasionally glancing at the doors to the throne room with frowns. From their constipated facades Lakyus guessed they were people who were not use to waiting, much less being told to leave the room. Although they were incredibly vocal about their dissatisfaction none dared to approach the doors. The two figures that stood guard there were enough to dissuade them, especially the tall white armoured Ramiel. His aura screamed unapproachable. No one doubted he would use his spear on anyone who got close to him.

"Oni Leader, what do you think they are doing in there?" Tina asked.

Lakyus shrugged. "How would I know? For all I know they could be gossiping."

"What if she asked for an audience with the queen so she can assassinate her?" Tia asked.

Lakyus sighed. Usually Evileye and Gargaran were the conspiracy theorists. "This Shiva does not look like the type to request private meetings to assassinate others. Even if she did what reason would she do something like that?"

"The throne?" Tina enquired.

"That doesn't make sense," Gargaran said. Out of all of them she was the one who believed in the good intentions of the Shiva the most, probably because her life was saved by this stranger. "Then why would she save us?"

"Who knows," Evileye entered the conversation. "However, the fact that we don't know anything about this person does not sit well with me. We need to contact the old hag and ask her what she knows."

Before they could continue the doors to the throne room swung open, putting an end to their discussion. Out strolled Shiva in her elegant white suit with a confident gait. The moment she set foot outside the throne room the imposing Ramiel was suddenly at her side, ready to defend her from all threats real and imagine.

Most people were not looking at her however.

Their eyes were fixated on the figure that stepped out behind her. This woman stood around one hundred and sixty-five centimetres. Her appearance put her around thirty to forty. Her face was beautiful and any man looking at her would agree that she _filled out in the right places_ , inciting lewd thoughts in men and jealous ones in women. Still, what was most striking about her appearance was not her features, but the dress she wore. It was sleeveless with an exposed back and covered even her feet. Simply by looking at it one could tell that it was made from high grade materials. It's most striking attribute was that it seemed to suck the darkness from the environment, making the entrance hall appear brighter. Considering how beautiful the woman was, no one could deny such an elegant gown was perfect for her.

Despite how beautiful she looked the most common reaction towards her appearance was bewilderment.

"Is that...?" Gargaran couldn't finish the sentence, as she like the rest of them, stared on with a surprised expression. No one knew what to say.

After a minute of probing glares and whispered questions Lakyus broke out of her stupor. She turned around and gazed at the nobles. Most of them certainly had shocked expression, with the exception of a few. The Prime Minister had a clear frown on his face. He was not happy about what was happening.

 _So that's what she really looks like,_ Lakyus thought. Although it was common knowledge that the Dragon Queen was not using her true form there were conjectures on what she really looked like. Some thought the reason she used a childish form was because her true form was not attractive, an obvious falsehood. If this woman was deemed unattractive women everywhere would flare up. Another guess, which mainly circulated around commoners and the uneducated, was that her true form was that of a dragon seeing as she was descended from one.

Although it was well known that the appearance Queen Draudiron used was not her real one she never used her true form in public. Why would she do that now? Lakyus' gaze wandered to Shiva. It probably had something to do with her.

The queen seemed very aware of the gazes being sent in her direction and was trying her best to ignore them. She seemed to be succeeding somewhat. Her head was held high with dignity and her stride contained unmasked pride. She looked them in the eye and gave them all a warm smile.

"I came out here to thank you all for coming today," she began. "I wish I could stay here longer..." That was a lie. She was not trying to hide how eager she was to get rid of them. "... but I'm afraid I will have to cut matters short today. You are all welcome to stay in the palace of course, but I am afraid I will have to leave you without a host. I have urgent matters to attend to."

A surge of protests were immediately launched her way. The queen held up her hand to calm them. In the past this action would have gone unnoticed, but with the aura she now gave off no one dared to ignore her. They quieted down, waiting to hear whatever she had to say.

"I hope you enjoy the rest of your day," Queen Draudiron said. "Now if you would excuse me I must get going." She looked at the white haired young woman who had been with her for the past hour. "Shiva-sama if you would please."

Shiva responded with a nod. Suddenly space rippled behind her and a hole as dark as the abyss opened up. Besides the queen, Ramiel and the unresponsive Niahoggr everyone was caught off guard by this.

"Wh-what the hell is that?" a bewildered Gargaran asked, looking at their magic caster.

"I... have absolutely no idea," Evileye replied after a long moment of silent. "It looks like a portal of some kind so I'm guessing it's a teleportation spell."

"What rank?" Gargaran asked.

"I don't know," the magic caster answered. "But it's high, beyond anything I've ever seen."

Lakyus stopped paying attention to the conversation between the two and turned to Queen Draudiron, who was about to walk through the portal. "Your Majesty," she began. "Would it be okay for Blue Rose to accompany you?" After all they had been tasked with her protection. As an Adamantite ranked Adventurer she had her pride. Neither her, nor anyone in Blue Rose would accept payment for half-assed jobs and incomplete tasks.

The queen shared a look with Shiva, who shrugged at the unanswered question. "You are welcome to join us if you wish but take note, out destination is the Beastman Kingdom."

The words she spoke caused an uneasy stir among those present. "Your Majesty," the Prime Minister said, clearly planning to dissuade her. "Going into the beastmen's territory is unwise. Please think-"

"I will be fine," the queen interrupted him. Gesturing to Lakyus and Blue Rose, who were moving to her side, and then Shiva, Ramiel and Niahoggr. There was need to worry about her safety.

"If that's the case then might we be permitted to accompany you as well your majesty?"

They all searched for the speaker. Their eyes came to rest on the leader of the group sent from the Slane Theocracy. At the sight of the man and his two surviving companions Lakyus' expression turned cold.

She never forgot her team's encounter with one of the Theocracy's secret units. The doctrine of the Theocracy preached the protection of humans and subjugation of all other races. Lakyus did not agree with the subjugation part but she could not deny that when it came to protecting humans the Slane Theocracy was doing the best job. They lived up to their name as protectors of humanity. _At least in the light that is._ That day Blue Rose had stumbled upon one of their Scripture organisations they were doing the exact opposite, massacring the humans they had sworn to protect. Since that day anything that had to do with the Theocracy angered her. Right now it was only the etiquette beaten into her by her noble parents that stopped her from using Kilineyram on them. She did not want to be anywhere near them. She did not want them to come with them.

Unfortunately that decision was not up to her. Queen Draudiron gave them permission to come along. She could do naught but watch them join her with a sour face.

"What do you reckon they're going to do in the Beastman Kingdom?" Lakyus posed a question to their magic caster.

"They are going to demand peace?" Evileye guessed with uncertainty.

"You think so?" Gargaran said. She sadly added: "Beastmen are not the type of people humans can negotiate with. To them it would be like humans negotiating with cattle. You don't negotiate with food."

"It's likely a show of power," Tina agreed. Her twin nodded in support.

Ramiel was the first to step through the portal, followed by Niahoggr, then the queen. After that went Shiva, who was followed by the Slane Theocracy aides and finally Blue Rose. Lakyus was the last to enter the portal. Surprisingly none of them were anxious about the fact that they were stepping into enemy territory. It was probably because of the fact that the person who could be said to have single-handedly destroyed the beastmen's invasion was tagging along. Everyone was assured of their safety.

That was before they stepped through the portal.

They arrived upon a hill overlooking a city. The place was unfamiliar to them. The surrounding area was littered with grass and the unknown city in the centre, though large, had no walls around it. Either the people living there were incredibly naive or incredibly arrogant.

However, it was clearly something else that alarmed them.

When they stepped through the portal they found a beastwoman on the hill. She looked young, more so than Shiva, with pale skin, shaggy white hair and large emerald eyes. There were feline ears atop her head and her forearms were incredibly hairy. Instead of nails this woman had claws that looked like they could rip out the guts of a man. Her most prominent feature was the black stripes around her body identifying her as a tiger beastman. She was barefoot with a greay top and pair of green short shorts. The air around her brought a great uneasiness over the Blue Rose leader.

Apart from Shiva and her companions, everyone who was armed had their hands shoot to their weapons immediately as they prepared for battle. Queen Draudiron was frozen were she stood. Clearly she had no prior knowledge of this person. As for the agents of the Slane Theocracy, they did not hesitate to show their distaste for non-humans. They were the first to attack.

One of them leapt forward with his blade drawn, compounding Martial Arts techniques as he prepared to attacked. [Limit Breaker][Gale Acceleration][Agility Boost][Stride of Wind], four different Martial Arts were activated at once as he swung his blade at the mysterious beastwoman. The speed and activation was faster than anything Lakyus had ever seen. By this action alone she could tell that he was more skilled than Garagaran.

Despite that his blade never reached the beastwoman.

Although the Theocracy agent moved at an unprecedented speed the reaction of the beastwoman made him look almost stationary. With a smooth glide she evaded his blade and leisurely grabbed hold of his wrist. She wore a bored expression as she casually flung the man in the direction he came from, right into his companion who had drawn a bow and was about to shoot her. The two men flew a few metres back before they collapsed.

The beastwoman's lazy but effective actions brought uneasiness to most of them.

"Such fluid movements," Gargaran commented in amazement. "I didn't feel her activating any Martial Arts."

"It must be her agility," Tia said. "Felines are well versed in that area."

Although they were conversing their eyes remained on the beastwoman, wary of her, preparing to engage the moment she attacked. The skill showed by the beastwoman told Lakyus that they would need to go all out to beat this woman and even then they would need a great deal of luck. She doubted even Evileye would be able to match this creature. Something seemed wrong with the situation though.

 _Why isn't Shiva reacting?_

If the white haired woman or her body guard acted the problem would be resolved in moments, yet neither of them raised their weapons to do anything.

As if to answer her question Shiva remained standing were she was and simply uttered: "That's enough."

The beastwoman, who had been about to follow up with her assault, surprisingly stopped and took a knee. Her eyes rested on Shiva as she spoke in a language Lakyus had never heard before. "!syug eseht era kcuf eht ohW. snoitca ym tnemal I."

The unknown vernacular was something she had never heard before. All members of Blue Rose immediately turned to their most experienced member, who shrugged in response. "It's my first time hearing it too."

All sentient beings in the New World spoke a common tongue so there was never a need to learn multiple languages, unless of course it was ancient tongue that can help them uncover lost knowledge from times long forgotten. Perhaps Shiva and this beastwoman such people and liked to greet each other in that language to increase their proficiency.

"It's fine," Shiva replied, having clearly understood what has been said. "The fault lies with those that attacked you."

"Oh," the beastwoman responded with a raised eyebrow as she got to her feet. "So we're speaking this tongue." A pout formed on her pretty face. "I hate this dialect. It's so unsophisticated, so unpoetic. I don't like talking to Ao and Ki because they can't speak our tongue." Amid her complaints Lakyus saw her eyes darkening. "That and the fact that they're drag-"

"That's enough," Ramiel interrupted her. "What you like or hate is of no concern at this moment."

"You're so mean Ramiel-sama," Shiro said with a playful frown. She turned to Shiva with misty eyes. "That's not so, right Shiva-sama?"

But her plea fell to deaf ears. Shiva looked annoyed. "This is not the time for your childish rants. As you can see we are not alone."

After countering the Slane Theocracy agents the beastwoman seemed to have completely forgotten their presence. When Shiva reminded her that Lakyus and the others were present as well noticing the serious expression on her face, the beastwoman's expression morphed from playful to embarrassed to fearful and then apologetic.

"Please forgive my brazenness El," she muttered humbly, kneeling once more. "I will accept any punishment for this offense."

Her demeanour shocked those gathered on the hill. It also raised more questions about Shiva. Not only was her strength considerable but she also had powerful followers in Ramiel and probably this beastwoman as well. Just who was she? How had they never heard of her before?

"Forget it,"' Shiva said to the beastwoman, before turning to the queen and giving a slight apologetic bow. Lakyus noticed the eyes of both Ramiel and the beastwoman's eyes narrow dangerously. Neither of them said anything though, allowing Shiva to continue. "I forgot to mention that we would be meeting with a servant of mine. I hope you can forgive my oversight your majesty."

"Er... it's fine!" Queen Draudiron said, not knowing how to react.

"Thank you," Shiva responded, her attention went to the beastwoman who had once again gotten to her feet. "Introduce yourself."

The beastwoman walked up to them until she stood beside Shiva, the two were of a height. She then gave a polite bow.

"I am Shiro Byakko of Seraphim," she said, her actions directed at the queen. "I am a loyal servant of Shiva-sama. It's a pleasure to meet you your maj-" She stopped before finishing and began to audibly sniff the air. "Is that dragon I smell?" she wondered, a frown now directed at the queen. "Are you- aaahh!- I mean it's nice to meet you your majesty, and the rest of you."

Her last sentence was said in the most insincere manner. Her original words were cut off when Shiva whacked her with the butt of her staff on her foot. The display unwound the situation though. Lakyus felt that, if not for her race she would get along with the female tiger beastman. Her personality was compatible with Blue Rose's.

There were a few who did not relax from the display however. While Blue Rose sheathed their weapons the Slane Theocracy members still clung on to theirs with hostility. It did not look like they were planning on lowering them.

"Excuse me Oujo-sama." The leader had his mace pointed at Shiro. "This creature is your servant?"

"Yes," Shiva replied. The look she gave him was one of danger. "Is there a problem?"

The man seemed oblivious to the threatening glare and continued, hateful eyes resting on Shiro. "Yes there is Oujo-sama. This creature is a beast like those who invaded the Draconic Kingdom."

"Is that so?" Shiva said, her tone still dangerous. "I don't remember seeing Shiro on the battlefield. Maybe I missed her somehow. Did you see her?"

Despite the sarcastic remark the Theocracy agent went on unperturbed. "No, but that does not change what it is."

"And what is she?"

"An inhuman beast, a savage. A creature like this does not deserve to breathe the same air as we do. It should be put in a cage were humans can observe it and know how superior we are!"

His voice was brimming with passion, but as his spoke, instead of inflaming Shiva with his hateful Theocracy speech he simply angered her.

"So that's the kind of person you are?" Shiva muttered with an icy glare. It was only then that the man realised he had preached to the wrong person. Shiva walked up to him, looked him in the eye and said: "I hate people like you, humanist scum who think their race is better than any. I want you to know that I am not human either. In fact the relationship between Shiro's and my race is closer than that between mine and yours." She turned away from him. "Shiro, if you find any of his comments insulting kill him."

The statement left everyone dumbfounded. Not only had she blatantly threatened to set one of her subordinates on an agent of the strongest human nation in front of the Dragon Queen but she had casually admitted to not being human. In the human world, even in the liberal Re-Estize Kingdom, non-humans were scorned. Non-humans were regarded as inferior and unworthy of human attention. The most obvious proof of this is the story of the Thirteen Heroes. The truth about that heroic tale is that they had been way more than thirteen but the humans let out the other races' heroes and only mention those of their own kind, especial the Theocracy who were known to alter history to suit their needs. In the past there had been non-humans who tried to live among humans. However, many of them kept the fact that they were of a different race to themselves. The fate of those who were discovered was never pleasant.

Lakyus had known before the admission that Shiva was not what she appeared to be. After they had left the throne room Evileye had shared her suspicions with her team. _To casually admit that fact,_ she thought as she watched Shiva retreat to stand next to Shiro once more. _It's not like anyone here would try anything against her though._ A tinge of envy rose from her chest. _It must be nice to have overwhelming strength._

"So Shiro," Shiva said. She acted like the revelation of her not being human was no big deal. "How did you find these beastmen?"

Shiro immediate took the stance of a reporting soldier. "As Shiva-sama expected they are a savage bunch, wildly untamed and quick to resort to teeth and claws to resolve disputes. The city is surprising well kept considering the fact the laws of the jungle reign supreme there."

That was not surprising. Despite their animalistic nature beastmen they matched humans in intelligence. They knew the benefits of community and would never allow their faults to hinder that. The fact that they fought from time to time only served to strengthen them as a race.

"And they're selling human meat in the markets."

This sentence that was added as a miscellaneous detail had the most impact. Lakyus gripped the handle of her sword tighter, Evileye clenched her fists tightly, the twins gripped their heads strongly and Gargaran frowned deeply. It did not come as a surprise that the agents of the Slane Theocracy were the least reactive, at least not to Lakyus. Sometimes she wondered if they even cared for humans or if they were just interested in boosting their egos among members of their race.

As for the queen, she visibly stiffened at the statement. "What cruelty," she whispered, though it carried to the rest of them.

"We will send them a message," Shiva said. Despite retaining her calm facade her eyes could not hide her raw fury. A slight wave of killing intent burst from her into all directions. However, even though it was small its magnitude made most of them tense up. "We tell them that we're here to destroy them."

Hearing this, the tiger beastwoman- _Is she a beastman?_ Lakyus scrutinised Shiro. With every moment she was beginning to doubt it, especially after what Shiva said about the proximity of their races- suddenly raised her hand in excitement, drawing all attention to her.

"Can I be the one to go?" she pleaded.

Shiva took a moment to think about it. "No," she said, shaking her head. "Ramiel will go."

"Why?" Shiro asked in a deflated voice, as if all her dreams had been crushed. Though a moment later her face morphed into a panic one and she took to her knee for a third time. "I'm sorry Shiva-sama! Please forgive my foolishness. A lowly creature like me has no right questioning your motives." Her clawed hand went to her throat, shocking everyone but Ramiel. "Please allow me to atone with my life."

 _She's serious!_ Lakyus screamed inside.

The beast(?)woman looked terrified at the idea of losing her life but everyone could tell from the determination in her eyes that she would take her life if ordered to do so by Shiva.

"Th-there's no need for that," Shiva responded. Her tone was uncomfortable and the look she gave her subordinate screamed _you're being to dramatic!_ "As for the reason I don't mind explaining. It's basic psychology. If the humans were the aggressors I would send you to deliver the message."

"Oh," Shiro said in understanding, a sinister smirk played upon her lips. "I see."

Lakyus herself had guessed Shiva's intention. Who better than a human with overwhelming strength to deliver a message to the arrogant beastman invaders? By now it was obvious to her that Ramiel too was not actually human but in this case appearance was all that mattered.

"That is not a fair analogy," Gargaran suddenly said, prompting Shiva's questioning gaze to descend on her. But of course someone has stubborn as Gargaran would stand her ground. "Even if humans were the ones invading they would never use the beastmen as a food source."

Everyone was in agreement with that statement, especially the queen. Her eyes radiated support for Gargaran.

"You're right," Shiva said after some pondering. "I have never heard of humans eating beastmen before." She went on before anyone could say anything. "But I've heard of humans eating humans."

No one had anything to say to that. Seeing that no more enquiries were being made she turned to the hulking bodyguard and gave her orders. "Go to their palace- it's probably the most extravagant building- and tell them they have an hour from the time they hear the message. Make sure they know exactly why we are here and why we are doing this." She paused and turned to Queen Draudiron. "That is, of course, if you are fine with it your majesty. If you are not we could always return."

"No," the queen responded with a calm tone, but her demeanour conveyed a desire for vengeance. "I fully support this course of action."

"You heard her Ramiel. Off you go."

"I will gladly undertake this task and deliver the message," Ramiel's deep voice came with a bow to his master. "The name of our race does mean messenger after all."

Lakyus' widened once more in shock, although deep down her reaction began to annoy her. If she kept getting shocked by every little thing they said she might not survive the day! These surprises were not good for her heart, or anyone's heart for that matter. The agents of the Slane Theocracy had the same expression. The same question was probably going through the minds.

"What?" Gargaran asked her. She indicated that she would tell her and the twins later. Evileye had probably realised it as well.

"Unless you are in trouble keep this form," Shiva said, not paying attention to them. She was still looking at Ramiel. " And bring someone along, the more important the better."

"Understood."

"Good luck."

Moments later he was blitzing down the mountain at a pace never seen or heard of before in the New World.

* * *

In a small strategy room in the Beastman Capital four individuals stared at a map. This map detailed the entirety of the Dragon Kingdom and the Beastman Kingdom's north-western border. There were several figurines scattered around the map, four small ones representing a thousand men were situated on four different cities while eight big figurines representing ten thousand had been pushed to the marker of the Draconic Kingdom's capital.

"Did Dong Sho take that pissant city yet?" One of them, a humongous lion beastman with a thick dark mane, asked.

"No Great Ruler," an ape beastman replied respectfully. "We haven't heard from him in the last twenty-four hours.

"He's still attacking that city?" the lion beastman, the Beast King, asked in a dissatisfied tone. "He said the humans were weaker than disabled children. What's taking him so long?"

"I do not know Great Ruler," a leopard beastman answered. "Perhaps he has long captured the city and forgotten himself amidst the feasting."

"Aye, it does sound like him," a wolf faced beastman agreed. "As brilliant a commander as he is Dong Sho can be careless at times, especially after battle."

Beast King Leon Shar looked at the three one by one. The ape and leopard beastmen were among his three top generals and the lupine beastman was his top adviser. He had called this meeting after lack of contact from his most trusted general whom he had sent to subjugate the meek human nation. After generations of raiding their villages with no repercussions Leon decided he would just take over the whole nation and use it as a meat farm. What need was there to steal humans in small amounts when you had the strength to subjugate and control them all.

Human meat was among the best food on the continent and now that they had taken over four of the creatures' hovels the supply had increased over fifty fold. Despite that the demand was still much higher than the supply, making it the most popular product on the market.

Leon frowned while thinking about Dong Sho. He did not believe what his subordinates said. Although it was true that Dong Sho could be careless at times he always did his duty before he descended into that carelessness. The man had promised to contact him the moment he captured the city and that is exactly what he would do. Unless something happened to him.

Leon did not believe that though. Dong Sho was his most trusted general, his most powerful subordinate with the most brilliant strategic mind not seen in generations. There was no way he would be hindered by creatures as pathetic as humans. He was worth more than these three attending him combined. If Dong Sho could be in three places at the same time he would never have selected the other two to be his generals. Their strengths were passable and their tactics were somewhat good, but both paled in comparison to his most trusted aide. And his lupine advisor, Leon did not really need someone like that. He only chose him because he desired his mate. Doing so was a way to keep her close and take her at his leisure.

Copulation between two different tribes of beastmen was largely frowned upon. They could of course reproduce as they are members of the same race, but something as different as a canine and feline would produce a pitiful monstrosity that could never match even an adolescent beastman in strength. However, Leon did not care. He was the strongest. He was king. He took what he wanted and did not hide it. Besides he still used his five mates to produce strong heirs.

A distant shout brought him out of his thoughts. "Call the mage," he ordered. "And tell those fools in the markets to keep it down before I come down there and do it myself."

The markets have been rowdy the past months with everyone storming to purchase the best quality human meat. Many times they got so noisy it was hard to hear oneself think. Leon was quickly losing patience with them. And it seems the noise was getting louder and they were getting even closer.

"Your will be done Great Ruler." The ape general was about to leave the room but a nearby explosion halted his footsteps.

"What was that?" Leon demanded, moving towards the door.

"I don't know Great Ruler," the leopard general replied. "But it sounded like it came from the castle."

"I know that fool!"Leon roared furiously. Why would he move towards the exit if not to check what was happening. "I'm asking what it is, not where it came from!" What fool dared to disturb him from his meeting?

His adviser was about to open his mouth, probably to suggest that he do what he was already doing, when the doors suddenly burst open. In the door way stood a human in white armour with a red spear that glowed dangerously. Sprawled on the floor behind it were those who were supposed to be guarding the room and inform Leon of anyone approaching. There was no smell of blood so they were probably not dead, just unconscious. The human's eyes swept over those in the room before they came to rest on Leon.

"Are you the ruler?" it asked casually.

Leon responded by pouncing on it, this pathetic creature that dared to storm his palace. He was going to tear its limbs off and then make it watch him eat them before he killed it. That would be a great lesson to it for its impudence.

However, before he could get within a metre of the human a great force descended upon the room, causing him to halt his actions. If he were as hairless as a human those in the room would have been able to observe sweat trickling down his face, but alas he was a beastman. The moisture got caught in his fur. His muscles completely stiffened.

As a beast and a hunter Leon was all too familiar with what he was experiencing, but never in his thirty years of life had ever experienced it with such intensity. How had a human obtained so much killing intent? When the force passed by but he was still left petrified on the spot. However, the creature's voice brought him out of his stupor.

"I bring a message from my great father Shiva, the great Crystal-Winged Druid of Seraphim," it began, maintaining its casual tone. "The actions of you beastman in the Draconic kingdom have anger her immensely. She has deemed you a blight upon the world and an insult to her existence. And so she sent me with this message. After I leave you will have one hour before she destroys you all. Take that time to reflect upon all the decisions that brought you up to this point and beg for forgiveness."

After delivering the message it moved to grab Leon, but paused midway before looking at the other three. Its gaze settled on the wolf beastman. It walked towards him and grabbed him. Then, with a speed surpassing anything Leon had ever seen before, it burst out of the room.

Only when its presence had completely disappeared did the Beast King find himself able to move again. There was silence in the room and with each passing moment Leon felt his blood boiling until his temper reached levels beyond anything it had ever had before. A human had just infiltrated his sanctum and taken his adviser with minimal effort. Such a think should never have happened. If word got out he would be laughed at and deemed too weak to rule. Every fool with a sleeve of confidence in their arms would show up at his doorstep to challenge his sovereignty. Such a thing could not be allowed. A precedent had to be set. An example had to be made. He would not let that human get away.

He walked outside and kicked one of the unconscious guards in the head. The aim was to wake him up but in his anger he had kicked too hard, causing the guards skull to cave in and killing him instantly. This made Leon calm down a bit. Instead of trying to wake the remaining guard violently he decided to do it verbally.

"IS THIS YOUR MOTHERS HOUSE! WAKE THE FUCK UP!"

The Beast King's mighty voice carried across the entire palace and maybe even beyond it. There was no way the guard did not hear it, though he was confused at first the furious gaze of his king quickly brought him to the present. He jumped to his feet and stood in attention, looking as if he had not just been overpowered by a human. Leon wanted bash his face in but that would not be any good at the moment. He would do it later.

"Go to the marketplace and tell them to close down," he ordered. "As of now all activities are cancelled. I want all the warriors in the city in front of my palace in ten minutes!"

The guard looked confused by the order but did not dare question Leon. He bowed his head and ran off. Leon was glad he understood there was no time to waste. Unfortunately, one of his generals was not smart enough to realise that.

"Great Ruler," the ape beastman said with imploring eyes. "If you're going after the human I beg you to please reconsider. With his speed we will never catch-"

Smash! Before the beastman could finish Leon grabbed the back of his head and smashed his face into the table, smashing it and sending his head into the floor. The Beast King did not stop there. He raised his heavy boot which was line with metal and brought it down on the beastman's face, repeatedly. After a minute of doing so he stopped. The ape beastman was bleeding and not moving. It was hard to tell if he was alive or dead. Leon did not care. He turned to the remaining general, who cowered at his glare.

"Do you have anything to say?" he asked menacingly. The leopard beastman replied with a meek shake of the head. "Good. Get my mage."

If Leon had to be honest with himself the speed displayed by that human was beyond him. If he chased after it using his own might he would be left in the dust. However with the help of his magic caster it would be a piece of cake to locate the human.

When he first took the lupine beastman's mate Dong Sho advised him that the humiliation would drive the beastman to run away and take his family with him. To prepare for such a day Dong Sho suggested they place a tracer on him, one that is likely to always be on him no matter where he went, also that it would be preferable if the wolfkin not be aware of it. So Leon rendered him unconscious and had his mage secretly extract a fang, enchant it and put it back without the beastman's knowledge. The idea had been genius. Since he did not suspect it he would not temper with it. For canine and feline type beastmen teeth had a lot to do with appeal. The only thing more important to their appearance was their fur.

And now Leon would use that to find and slaughter the human that dared to cross him

* * *

It took Ramiel less than five minutes to enter the city and return. On his shoulder he carried the form of a comatose canine beastman.

"I have delivered the message to their king Chichi-ue," Ramiel said with a bow towards Shiva. "And I have brought a captive as your ordered."

"Good," Shiva replied, watching him throw the beastman on the ground. "Keep him unconscious for the next hour."

Listening to this Draudiron could not help but feel envious of the young woman. Not only was she incredibly powerful but she had subordinates who matched her strength. Unlike her Draudiron's guards could not compare. They their strength was at the Gold and Platinum ranks, completely useless in these events. That was why she had hired Blue Rose instead in the case of something going wrong with their negotiations. Now however, she knew that even they could not match up to Shiva or any of her companions.

 _Niahoggr D'zar,_ she thought, stealing a look at the Dragon Lord. It was not his real body, but a puppet being controlled using wild magic. Why was he here? She had not gotten an opportunity to talk to him. Why was he travelling with Shiva? What was his role?

"Chichi-ue? You're a man?"

This question, posted by Evileye brought her back to the present. Everyone was now staring at Shiva with shocked expressions. Even Draudiron could not help herself. Of all the things she had seen and heard today this was by far the most shocking. She looked at Shiva's face. Too pretty. She looked at her hands. Too small. Her chest. Too large. Even though she wore a suit and referred to herself with masculine terms Draudiron would never believe Shiva was a man. No one would ever believe it.

Shiva's outburst proved as much.

"Of course not!" she vehemently denied. The embarrassed look was the most human emotion she'd ever displayed since Draudiron met her.

"Then why-"

"It's a long story!" the white hair youth interrupted the short magic caster, sending Ramiel an unfriendly glance. Ramiel in return looked perplexed unsure of what he did wrong. "A long and complicated one!"

"So that's why you wear a suit," Blue Rose' Warrior added, pointing at Shiva's attire. "And why you talk like that."

"I am female!" Shiva yelled. "The reason I talk like I do is for rolepl- it suits me! And this suit is for women!"

"There are suits for women?" It Blue Rose leader who asked, this time out of genuine curiosity.

"Yes," Shiva replied. Having gotten over her embarrassment her expression turned calm and serious once more. "But now is not the time to discuss fashion. It seems we will have visitors soon."

Draudiron's gaze followed hers to the beastman's city. Multiple figures emerged from it. From the looks of it their destination was the hill Draudiron and the others were on.

"Ten- no, fifteen thousand just for us?" Shiro, who had been silent or a while gushed in mock amazement. "I'm flattered! I'm about to blush."

Ramiel on the other hand wore a frown. "That foolish mortal!" he muttered angrily. "I clearly told him to use the hour you gave to him repent for his sins."

No one knew how to react to this. Even his master face carried a trace of incredulity. After a while Shiva sighed.

"It's okay. It just means I will have to move up my schedule." She narrowed her eyes at the incoming horde. "Is that lionman in front the king?"

"Yes," Ramiel, still frowning. "I should have brought him instead of this beastman. Please forgive me."

"It's okay," Shiva assured him. "As long as the beastman is someone many of their kind will recognise I have no qualms about it. It was never my intention to let the king live anyway."

Draudiron agreed with her. The one behind the invasion of her country could not be allowed to keep drawing breath in this world.

She raised her staff in the air, no doubt to cast a spell. However, at that moment an idea hit Draudiron.

"Please wait Shiva-sama," She called, running up to her. Her actions drew everyone's attention.

"Is something wrong your majesty?" Shiva asked in a slightly confused tone.

"Um..." Draudiron was quiet for a while, thinking about whether she should go through with what she wanted to say. It took her only a moment to make her decision and a determined look appeared on her face. "Would you mind if-" Shiva gave a slight cough at her wording, causing her to stop her request. _A ruler does not make requests. A ruler demands and expects those demands to be met._ That was what Shiva had told Draudiron before the two left the throne room. She had been worried what her subjects would think about everything, whether her appearance or the fact that she had decided come to the Beastman Capital. _A ruler does not ask, a ruler tells._ "I would like to be the first to attack."

"Be my guest," Shiva gestured.

Draudiron stepped past her, feeling the energy brimming in her body, calling to it. It answered. Compared to the millions she had planned to sacrifice before, the sacrifice of tens of thousands of beastmen did not yield anywhere close to the amount of wild magic she would have needed to destroy the entire beastmen army. Fortunately she did not need that power anymore. She did not need the power she had now. Out the corner of her eye glanced at Shiva and in that moment she realised that she did not care whether she was human or not. She owed her more than she would be able to repay in a dozen lifetimes. If Shiva made any sort of request she would try her best to meet it. Because without her she would never have gotten the chance to direct vengeance.

The chance to strike down the bastard responsible for her people's suffering.

She looked at the fifteen thousand charging beastmen. On any other day she would have been terrified but with Shiva here she had not a care in the world. Her gaze went to the figure in the lead. He was more than five hundred metres away. As she was just a normal human she could not see any specific features, much less the lion ones Shiva had mentioned. So she decided to confirm with her.

"So that guy in front is the Beast King?" she asked.

"Yes," Shiva replied. "He's the one Ramiel singled out."

"Good."

With that confirmed she turned back to the figure with a bloodlust that shocked her, not to mention those around her. There were fools out there who claimed that revenge was not worth the trouble. That was why they were fools. What she was doing definitely felt good. The only way it would be sweeter is if she could make him suffer before granting the death she was about to. But she had already gotten more than she had dreamt since the invasion began. She would not be greedy.

So with all her concentration pinned the Beast King she released the power within her.

* * *

Leon did not spend too much time gathering his warriors. He was the strongest and greatest king seen in a while. No one dared to keep him waiting. Within minutes the plaza was filled with more people than he could count. He did not divulge what had happened a while back in his palace. It was not that he wished to keep it hidden. Such occurrences made for sloppy secrets. He simply did not think it necessary. All that mattered now was catching up to human and teaching it a lesson. All he told those gathered to follow him if they wanted the fight of their lives. That was enough to stir them. Their savagery was after all what made them beasts.

In no time they were speeding towards the edge of the city, heading in the direction of the trace on the wolf beastman. His mage had cast a spell on him so he would be able to tell the displacement of the tracker. The fact that he was closing the distance told him that the human had stopped. This brought about mixed feelings in him. On one hand he was happy because he did not need to go far to catch it. On the other hand he was annoyed. The human thought simply moving out of the city limits would guarantee its safety. How naive. He was going to teach it a painful lesson. He was going to break every bone in its frail body, kill it and take it armour for himself.

As a beastman confident in his physical abilities, the idea that a human could be stronger than him or more physically gifted did not enter his mind at all. To him the only way such a thing could be possible was if a magic artefact of legends was used, the type that could have been used by the Heroes from two hundred years ago.

Everyone knew that story about the Demon Gods. That time had been an age of heroes, a period where the strongest of each race, including humans and beastmen, banded together against an evil that threatened to devour the world. Those figures were legends. They were exalted by all races. And the equipment they left behind caused many to leave the safety of their nests for them. Many failed and perished, but those who acquired such an item gained immeasurable fame. Leon believed the human was one such. That would explain why it so confidently strode into his city.

 _If I got my hands on that armour I will be invincible_ , he thought. If the armour truly was responsible for the human's strength and he managed to get his hands on it; if it had boosted the attributes of a human to such a level he could not begin to imagine how strong it would make him. His strength would be unfathomable. Perhaps he would be able to match the Dragon Lords in strength. With such equipment he would not only be able to conquer all the humans but also the annoying trolls and arrogant minotaurs.

As he existed the city his gaze went to the hill about two thousand metres away. There were plenty of hills surrounding the city so this one was not anything special. He would not have paid attention to it if he did not feel the trace placed on the wolf beastman coming from there. He made for it and his warriors followed. At the speed he was pushing he was soon able to make out certain details on the hill and with every moment they became clearer.

There were twelve figures standing at the top, thirteen if he counted the one lying on the ground. He assumed that was the wolfkin. He could make out the human in white armour. There was another figure in white but he did care about it. He was distracted by the figure in black at the front. From how it dressed Leon guessed it was female. Good, they tasted better than males. He watched it raise its hands in his direction.

Leon, a veteran of many battles with instincts honed to the limit, felt the hair on his tail stand. This was a clear sign of danger. Whatever that female was attempting had the potential to be cut his life short. _She's a magic caster!_ He guessed with alarm. Magic was one of the few things humans could do better than beastmen. Despite it being more potent in such a weak race even he would not underestimate such a power. If he did he would never have gotten a magician. Under the right circumstances the right spell could end a battle of thousands. _I have to move away from here!_ He thought.

However, he never got the chance to do so. In that instant white light flashed before his eyes. Then nothing.

* * *

The release of Queen Draudiron Oriculus' unusual magic caused an explosion that killed five hundred beastmen. Shiva was impressed. Among all those present the queen was by far the weakest. The fact that she was able to release a spell that devastating amazed and terrified her at the same time. If someone of such strength could release such a spell then what about Niahoggr, who she was sure was far more compatible with the magic? If he could use it at same strength ratio as Draudiron he might actually be able to threaten her life. With how real this world had become that thought was frightening to Shiva. Just in case she would have to ask him to explain how it worked.

Maybe Niahoggr's subservience was a pretence. Maybe he was just biding for his time until he gathered enough power to turn on her. _Perhaps I should ask the queen instead._ Shiva was not above using someone's gratitude to ask for favour. The word of someone who felt indebted to you was worth more than that of someone you subjugated. That kind of person probably felt disdain towards you.

"That was incredible your majesty," she praised Draudiron, rushing to support her as she stumbled. It seems the spell had taken a lot out of her. "Rest now. I will handle the rest."

She directed Ramiel to come and support her before she let her go. Her attention was now on the beastmen horde. Draudiron's spell- more the death or their leader- had brought them to a standstill. Their expressions morphed from terrified to uncertain as they looked in her direction. Despite their fear Shiva knew within minutes they would resume their charge. Even after losing their leader, creatures that were quick to get riled up were quick to follow the next creature to take the reins during the charge, no matter how weak that creature was.

 _It's time to begin_ , she said to herself, steeling her heart for what was to come. She let go of Imotep and store it in her pocket space. Then she reached into the same space and retrieved a silver ring with a single shooting star imbedded in it.

Among all the items she owned she hated this ring the most. It was not because she found it useless; the fact that she always carried on her person was evidence of its value. What caused Shiva to fume every time she saw it was the fact that it reminded her of the money she had spent on gacha tickets and obtained nothing. When she had gotten the ring on her first try she had not believed it when her guild mates told her how lucky she was and had gone back to try and obtain the popular but extremely rare item. Years of sacrificing lunch money all the way from her last year of junior high to her second year of university yielded nothing. Five years of playing those slots and in all that time the item eluded her. Thinking back on it she could not help but lament all the times she had rushed to those slots instead of saving up. If she had done so how much money would she have had by now?

 _It doesn't matter,_ she thought. It was not like she could use that money here. The lesson that her exploits with gacha slots and cash items taught her was that such rare item should be used sparingly. In all the years she had only found two uses for it. Once to escape from demon players in Muspelheim and the second in the clusterfuck known as the invasion of Nazarick. The second time had been a bust. All she had received was a joke wish that managed to get her killed. The experience certainly added to her loathing and mistrust for the silver band. It also added to her hesitation to use it. If she were still in Yggdrasil she would never think of using it like she was about to because it would almost certainly produce a joke wish. However, in this world certain spells were different, which led her to the belief that [Wish upon a Star] would be different. She could only prey though. If it failed she would resort to less effective methods for what she intended.

And so, with a huge breath, she slipped it on her finger and activated it. Immediately a glowing circle with strange patterns and a ten metre diameter sprang up beneath her feet with her at the centre. She heard gasps from all those who accompanied her, one of which was the distinctive voice of Shiro. She ignored them all and concentrated on the task.

"I WISH..." The shout was unnecessary but Shiva did it anyway, pouring her hope that the spell worked as expected into it.

Suddenly her mind flooded with information. Shiva could not help but rejoice at the content. Her gamble had paid off! Using [Wish upon a Star] in this world it was possible to do almost anything! So with that in mind she spurred forward to complete her request. "...that all beastmen within the city and around it who have not reached maturity be transported safely under the sky of the Flying Fortress of Zion!"

Nothing visible happened after, but Shiva felt it, thousands of beastman minors disappeared from the city and all its close settlements, teleported to the Gratis Plains. There they would be safe from what she was about to do.

"What was that magic!" the short weird masked undead magic caster exclaimed.

Perhaps the mask was to hide her undead status but it was little of little help against her. After all Shiva was a Druid. She was sensitive to all life. She was also an angel with an extremely high racial level so she was extremely sensitive to negative energy. She knew the moment she saw the magic caster what she was. The mask still did its job somewhat as she could not tell her exact species. She suspected vampire.

"Shiva-sama!" Shiro exclaimed. Her voice was even more excited than the magic casters. "Was that-"

"Yes it was," She interrupted.

With how shocking they found some of the things she did and how they thought all magic above 6th Tier was a myth, it was not wise to reveal the fact that she had used Super-Tier magic. In fact, she doubted they even knew it existed. Shiva looked at her hand just in time to see the shooting star fade from the ring. The band itself soon followed, disintegrating completely into dust. Knowledge of Super-Tier magic would be dangerous in this world. She would certainly not be the one to divulge it.

But the magic caster would not let it go. "Was that what?"

"You do not need to know," Shiva said, putting some finality in her voice. She still had one more thing to do and did not want to waste time. The beastman horde was about to move again.

However, there is always that one person who never gets the message.

"When you used that item you mentioned something about sending the beastmen children away!" The tone was accusing. Its owner was the leader of those sent by the Slane Theocracy to help push back the invasion.

Shiva did not like him or his comrades. She did not like the way they looked at Shiro. With the few words they had exchanged she had a clear idea of the type of person this man, and by extension his nation, was. She had no interests in allying with such people. They reminded her of the painful times when Humanoid players in Yggdrasil hunted and PKed Heteromorphic players. As an angel she did not suffer from that action. What she suffered from was its backlash. A frustrated Heteromorphic player Pked an angel player and discovered that they could gain bonuses from it. The follow up had not been pretty. The reason so many in the beginning had joined Seraphim, which had originally been a small guild with no intention to expand, was to defend against this.

"Yes I did. Is there a problem."

"They are beastmen," the man said, as if trying to emphasize something. "They are man-eating monsters."

"They are children. They should not witness the things that are about to happen." She felt like punching him in the face and would have probably done so if she did not fear blowing his head from his shoulders.

"And those children will grow to become man-eaters like their parents!"

Shiva was about to defend her choice but stopped herself. Why was she arguing with this moron? She was the one with the power. She did not need to justify her actions. She did not need to seek acceptance for them, especially not from someone like him.

"I am curious," the girl with the giant sword pulsing with demonic energy said. Before she could continue the magic caster eagerly jumped in. "Yes! I too am curious about the item spell-" And before that sentence saw its end the girl with the demon sword slapped the magic caster on the back of the head. The squeaky sound she made lightened the mood a bid. It almost brought a smile to Shiva's face. These girls were a likable bunch. It almost made her feel ashamed of not knowing their names.

"What are you curious about," she asked the sword girl.

"For starters I don't like him," the demon sword girl began, gesturing to the annoying man, who responded with indignant huff. The girl continued. "But he is right. Beastman children grow up to be man-eaters like their parents. Why spare them from the fate you intended for their parents?"

Shiva honestly did not want to answer, but it now looked like even Draudiron, who had recovered from her episode of dizziness, was interested in her answer. She closed her eyes and thought about how to answer. An image of a tall avatar with six white wings came to mind and she latched onto it. How wood Religious Nut with his philosophical mumbo-jumbo respond?

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and sighed. Then she opened eyes and gravely looked them all in the eye.

"A dead guy from a long ago once said; _He who fights with monsters should be careful lest he thereby become a monster. If thou gaze long into the abyss, the abyss will also gaze into thee._ " She let them digest the quote, it was an incredibly popular one back in her world. However, that was not the point she wanted to make. "I am not afraid to fall into the abyss so long as I have a light to guide me out, no matter how small it is and for that light to keep burning I know there are things I must not do. There are lines I must not cross."

Shiva did not consider herself a good or a bad person. Putting such labels one oneself was a burden. She was simply a person. She would do something good if wanted and she would do something bad if it benefited her. Even evil had a set of rules it adhered to. Coming to this world Shiva had already decided hers. Slavery, feasting on the flesh of sentient beings and wanton murder. She was obviously planning to kill the beastmen but even then, at the top of her taboos list was killing children. It was a no-no. Thinking of her twin nephews back home she reinforced her personal code. Killing such innocent souls deserves the harshest punishments in the deepest hells.

Seeing that no one was posting any more questions she turned away from them and looked at the beastmen. They were on the move once again. It was of no consequence. It was not like they could get away in time. Even if they miraculously reached her they would not be protected from what was coming.

"I want you all to listen and take my words to heart," she said loudly, turning around. Those around her perked up at her words. It was good, she meant those words for them. "Avert your eyes from me. Close your eyes or look in the direction opposite to the city. Do not watch, do not peek. If you do so I can guarantee with certainty you won't survive what is to come. Know that you have been warned."

With that she turned around and her body began to glow. Light burst out of her like an eruption as she exhumed her true form. Six crystal wings grew on her back, a halo appeared on her head and the world was bathed in silver light brighter than day. Her feet left the ground as she floated upwards, all half a dozen of her wings stretched to their limit. She rose until she was five hundred metres above the ground. Below her the beastmen had stopped charging and were pointing up at her, she did not bother to check their expression. She raised a finger in the air before she brought it down and pointed at the Beastman Capital, activating her strongest racial skill and crying out its name simultaneously.

"HEAVEN'S JUDGEMENT!"

All the light left her body and the world darkened. It had only been a few hours since dawn but now it looked like night had already fallen. There was without a doubt people ready to shit their pants at this phenomenon. Shiva's eyes looked up at the sky as little white lights appeared. One... two... three. Within seconds they had become too many to count. Someone looking up would think they were stars if they were not all hovering above the same place, the Beastman Capital city. The balls of light appeared to grow in size, but someone looking closely would realise they were actually getting closer. Their target was the city.

When the balls of light got closer it became apparent that they were in fact, giant balls of white fire falling from the sky. Usually they would be the typical orange flames, but Shiva's angel levels were so high she leaked holy energy into any elemental spell or skill she used, increasing the damage in the process.

The first fireball slammed a city building with a booming sound that was heard over a long distance. Apart from destroying half the building, the fireball's flames spread to the rest of it and reduced it to dust. The rest of the fireballs followed with the same results, like a rain of fire sent by a god to punish the beastmen for their debauchery.

In a way it was.

She looked at the city burn, not averting her eyes for a second. She watched until it stopped raining fire and the light of day reappeared to chase the darkness away.

The event had only taken a minute but the damage done was irreparable. The city had been reduced to a ruined pit of flames and ash. No one would ever set up a community in this place. The area's prosperity was gone forever. No one would ever live here.

"It's done," she heard a voice close to her.

She turned and saw Ramiel hovering next to her in his angel form. His body glowed brightly unlike hers. The cost of for such a powerful skill was high. Apart from a five day cool down time the user experienced thirty seconds of weakness, leaving them vulnerable to enemies. That was probably why Ramiel was up here with her. She gave him a bright smile and let herself go, undoing her angel form and allowing herself to fall into her child's arms. Ramiel to his credit gently wrapped his arms around her and flew back down to the hill before reverting to his human form as well.

There they were met speechless expressions. No one said anything. They did not know what to say. They had not witness the exact event but the fact that they city was no longer there spoke for itself.

"Shiva-sama! That was so cooool!"

The only person who found something to say in this situation was the ever cheerful ever playful feline demoness.

However, Shiva's attention was elsewhere, focused on the white statues close to them. They resembled the leader of the Slane Theocracy agents and one of his subordinates. Having regained her strength, Shiva got out of Ramiel's grasp and approached them. The frown on her face became evident as she got closer.

There were always those who never listened.

"Idiot!" she muttered, but everyone heard her.

Back in Yggdrasil those under level 70 were told to avert their eyes from a Seraph performing [Heaven's Judgement] lest they want to be turned into salt sculptures. There was no way to get rid of the effect. Maybe there was a World Item that could do that but Shiva would not know. She did not know all the World Items, she had certainly never heard of one that could do that. As far as she knew this condition was permanent. Like the countless beastmen among the charging horde who had escaped the flames they had been turned salt and just as their stupidity was incurable so was their condition.

Nothing could be done. They would remain salt statues for the rest of their lives

-END-

* * *

 _Honestly I'm tired. This chapter was not meant to be this long._

 _To all those who waited long with this update thank you and sorry. Thank you for your patience and sorry for the wait. I'll post the next chapter within the next two weeks._


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 11: Waves & Plots  
**

 _What just happened?_ Evileye had no idea. One moment Shiva told them to avert their eyes, the next she was hearing booming sounds and when she finally got the chance to look she found herself staring at a massive crater where the Beastman Capital use to be. From the white flames still burning she could only guess what transpired.

"Such destruction," she muttered, not knowing whether to be awed or frightened.

The destruction of the Beastman Capital occurred in mere moments and from the looks of it there were no survivors. The magic caster shivered as she looked down at the figures of the previously charging army. Many of them had escaped the range of whatever ability was used but they were unable to escape their fate. Evileye's gaze left them and went to the statues of the Slane Theocracy agents. Seeing what became of those who did not heed Shiva's warning the magic caster could not help but feel relieved that none of her teammates disobeyed the white haired girl. It would have been a tragedy if one of them had refused the advice. She did not even want to think about the disaster of the Queen Draudiron befalling the same fate as the petrified men.

"Wh- wh- what are you?" the remaining agent of the Slane Theocracy stuttered. "Ar- are you an angel? What kind?"

Evileye herself wanted to ask as well. Two hundred years ago the angel Dominion Authority defeated a Demon God with a spell of the unfathomable 7th Tier. Its might is such that it is probably one of the Theocracy's trump cards. An angel that can use magic unattainable to humans was a fearsome thing. Until this day she had believed it was the strongest angel. Looking at what remained of the city she now knew that was not the case.

Shiva did not respond to the man's comment. She shot him a withering look, causing him to look away. After that she walked away from the statues and approached the unconscious beastman. No one stopped her as she bent down to slap the Demi-Human awake. Evileye really wanted to know the angel species of Shiva and Ramiel. She had never heard of angels with six wings. She had never heard of angels who could take human forms. There were so many things she was curious about. What was that item wishing magic Shiva used? What type of teleportation magic did the white haired woman use to bring them here? What Tier was it? She had so many questions she wanted to ask, but they all faltered when she saw Shiva's expression.

The woman was clearly in a bad mood. Though she tried to hide it she seemed disturbed by what she had just done. Evileye could sympathise with her. Killing hundreds of thousands of people, no matter their race, never weighed easily on a person. The knowledge that you have killed countless and among them potential innocents was not easily to deal with. _At least she got the children out of the way,_ Evileye thought. She did not have that option centuries ago. Somehow it calmed her that Shiva felt something from this. Given that most creatures at her level of strength would not give a second thought to the _bugs_ they crushes Shiva's lament, as little as it was, proved that she cared about life.

The undead magic caster was brought out of her thoughts when the now revealed angel finally managed to wake the wolf beastman. Everyone's attention went to the wolfman as he sat and looked around with a confused expression, probably trying to figure out where he was. His bewilderment grew as he took in the faces staring at him, until he saw Ramiel. Then he began to panic and beg for his life offering to give him everything he has if he let him go.

"Why did you spare his life?" Queen Draudiron asked after a long period of silence. She had probably just recovered from seeing what had become of the Capital of the people who were causing her sleepless nights. The look she gave the beastman showed that even with their capital having been reduced to cinders her hatred would not disappear easily.

"We need someone to take the news of what happened here to the rest of the beastman race," Shiva said, eyes on the wolfman.

Said wolfman was now on his feet and had just noticed the absence of his city. Quickly realising what it meant the beastman let out an anguished howl. "MY CITY!" he cried. "MY FAMILY! NOOOOOOOOO!"

"If your children were have not matured yet they are fine," Shiva responded calmly. "If they are grown up I'm sorry for your loss, and if you had a wife sorry for her loss too."

Although she said these words her tone made it clear to anyone she was not sorry what she had done. Evileye could tell that she felt a little bad for what she had done, but her expression did not give a hint of regret. Her face clearly showed the wolfman that whoever had perished in the destruction of the city deserved their fate. After hearing the Shiva's words the beastman surprisingly calmed down. His children were probably minors and his wife, if he had one, was either away or he did not care about her. Seeing the wolfman's relieved expression Shiva posed a question. "What's your name?"

"Lau Fang," the beastman answered silently. His attention occasionally switched from Shiva and Ramiel to what use to be the city.

"Lau Fang," Shiva uttered his name as if tasting it. She was completely ignoring his wary glances. "What is your status in the Beastman Kingdom?"

"I am the king's adviser," Lau fang replied. When he mentioned his position, for some reason instead of feeling prideful like many of his status would he instead showed a despairing look.

"Good," Shiva said, her face hardening. "I want you to go to your people and tell them what happened here. Tell them what happened to the city and tell them why this happened. You do know why it happened don't you? With your status there are few who will doubt you."

Lau Fang nodded in response. The fact that humans were the culprits was a great teller why the city was destroyed. "What about my children?"

"They are in safe hands," Shiva answered. "You just worry about spreading the news."

Evileye watched on as the beastman rubbed the bottom of his furry snout in contemplation. It did not take long for him to reach the decision that everyone present already knew he would make. Truthfully he had no choice in the matter. If he refused nothing would stop them from killing him.

"I accept," he mumbled in defeat.

"Good," Shiva said. "After you do this I will find you and bring your children to you."

This surprisingly did not sound like blackmail or a threat. Lau Fang nodded and turned to go, only to stop and turn back with a questioning look. "I mean no disrespect Ningen-sama, but the next settlement is a fair distance from here. It will take a while to get and without food..." he left his statement hanging.

Before Shiva could respond to it Shiro, the tigerwoman ( _Demon,_ Evileye silently thought), raised her hand in excitement. "I can help with that!" she exclaimed.

This caused both Shiva and Ramiel to shoot her annoyed looks. "You're staying right here with us," her mistress said with finality.

"I was not planning on going with him," Shiro said with indignity. A magic scroll suddenly appeared in her hand. "I heard about an interesting story in this country so I messaged Shamsiel to lend me this scroll. It will summon the perfect mount for him."

By observing the feline's mischievous smile Evileye knew nothing good would come of this. A scroll that summons a mount? And the demoness got the idea after hearing a story in the Beastman Kingdom? Whatever Shiro was up to was definitely not for the benefit of the wolfman.

"Can I see that?" Shiro asked, though before she had even finished asking the scroll disappeared from Shiro's hand and appeared in hers. "I see," she said after opening the scroll. "The fact that you borrowed something from a Necromancer means you are up to no good."

She closed the scroll and threw it back at Shiro. However, before the tigress could catch the scroll it burst into white flames. The surprised Shiro quickly retracted her hand before the flames could touch her. After that she could only watch with a pout as the scroll disintegrated. "I'll handle the mount," Shiva said. She reached in empty space and drew out her staff. "[Summon Worg]"

A grey wolf appeared at her side, but this was not any normal wolf. It stood nearly two metres from head to paws, which was about the same height as Ramiel. Its head turned left and right, observing everyone with its intense yellow eyes before its gaze settled on Shiva. "You have summoned me Master?" it said in a questioning tone.

Evileye did not know how to respond. Whether it was the beast's ability to speak or its strength, both were beyond shocking. Estimating its strength she was certain she would be the victor should it ever attack her but she would have to go all out and would not come out unscathed. Her teammates would not stand a chance unless they worked together and luck factored into it.

"You will carry this man wherever he desires to go until I return," Shiva said, pointing at Lau Fang. She turned to him with a humorous smile. "Isn't this the perfect mount for you?"

A minute later they watched the beastman speed down the hill to who-knows-where. He was forgotten after that.

"We're done here Your Majesty," Shiva said, turning to the queen. "Are you ready to go back or would you like to stay here for a while."

"Yes- I mean no." Queen Druadiron had a bewildered look. It took her a while to come to her senses and give a proper answer. "I have seen enough. Let us return."

Shiva complied and opened a portal to the throne. She was about to step through when he last of Slane Theocracy agents poke up.

"W-what about my comrades?"

The white haired angel did not even bother to look at him as she walked into the portal. However, Ramiel and Shiro stopped in their tracks and both shot him intense looks that sent him cowering away. Then they both followed.

 _They deserve it,_ Evileye though as she stepped through the portal. Shiva had warned them not to look and they did not listen. The fact that they ended up in that state was completely their fault. No one paid the man any mind as they too went through. A moment later the agent entered the throne room with a distraught face. The portal closed after.

"I would love to stay Your Majesty but I have to go," Shiva suddenly said before anyone could speak up. "Please use this if you want to contact me."

A white dove popped into existence and flew over to the queen, landing comfortably on her shoulder. The queen herself had a surprised expression. Her gaze went from the dove to Shiva as if she had just had a great revelation.

"I'm sorry to leave you like this without finalising our agreement but I have urgent matters to attend to," Shiva said, oblivious to the queen's gaze. "If you want to contact me just kill my familiar and I will send someone to pick you up."

"A white dove," the queen mumbled, still looking between the bird and its summoner.

"Yeah," Shiva replied, now noticing the gaze. "In ancient times doves were used to represent angels. They are the perfect familiars for someone like me don't you think?"

"Yeah" the queen said absentmindedly. Then, as if remembering her earlier words she asked "Pick me up? And take me where?"

"To my home," Shiva replied. She raised her staff and cast the same portal spell. "I suspect I will have a lot of work to do over the next couple of weeks." The last sentence was said with an annoyed expression, as if the work she was going to be busy with would be an unpleasant affair. "Now if you would excuse me I have to go and inform a hundred thousand children I just killed their parents and destroyed their city."

* * *

The news of the destruction of the Beastman Capital spread quickly in the Beastman Kingdom and beyond. No one knew exactly what happened except the Beast king's adviser Lau Fang who claimed humans were responsible for it. However, those who travelled to the site did not believe him after they saw what was left of the cities and the salt sculptors nearby, especially when Lau Fang admitted he did not see how the city was actually destroyed.

After seeing what was left of the city some of the more knowledgeable beastmen suspected their campaign in the Dragon Kingdom had incurred the wrath of its founder. The result had left them weakened and without a leader. This event would later come to be known as the _Judgement of the Beasts._ It would be generations before they dared to attacked any human settlements again.

To the west, in the human lands, what happened in the Beastman Kingdom did not have much of an impact. Only a few had witnessed what happened and did not go spreading the information to everyone they met. They did tell their leaders though and with knowledge of a new powerful party these leaders began to hatch plots.

* * *

In the innermost reaches of the Slane Theocracy, a dozen people sat a round table as they had done just months ago.

Raymond Zag Lauransan could not help but sigh. As the Cardinal of Earth and the commander of the Six Scriptures he was again the overseer of such a meeting. Ever since the Sorcerer King seized E-Rantel these individuals who commanded the highest powers in the Theocracy had been slaving away trying to discover the extent of the Sorcerous Kingdom's might and how best to foil it. Their agents had given regular reports of the situation in the fortress city but none could get close enough to find out anything of real importance. There was also the issue with the Empire becoming a vassal of the Sorcerous Kingdom. Recently Raymond's days had all been extremely stressful. He had hoped not to meet his fellow cardinals and government officials in this manner so soon.

There was nothing he could do about it though. The events of the outside world were out of his control. "Today we're here to discuss what happened in the Dragon Kingdom a week ago. I am sure you are all aware of what happened."

A collective number of sighs sounded across the room. Raymond knew how they felt. This meeting had to do with another being of unknown origins.

"I heard angel appeared above the skies of the Dragon Kingdom's capital city," the Cardinal of Fire, Berenice Nagua Sandeni answered. "It apparently saved them by massacring the Beastman Army. Many of the commoners and even the priests claim it was sent by the Gods."

The last sentence was said with a fair amount of scepticism, scepticism that was reflected by everyone present.

"But there was a girl who appeared the next day in court claiming to be the one who summoned the angel," Ginedine Delan Gwerfe, the Cardinal of Water added.

"How much of that is actually true," the Pontifex Maximus asked.

Everyone looked at Raymond, waiting for the answer.

Said person cleared his throat before he spoke. "One of the agents we sent to aid the Dragon Kingdom contacted us with this information. He claims to have been present when the girl summoned the angel."

"And what about Thousand Mile Astrologer," Ginedine asked, always the sceptic.

"Nothing," Raymond replied in defeat, much to the shock of the others. As the head of the Scriptures he was glad Thousand Mile Astrologer had left her room and was back at work, even if she refused to ever spy on the Sorcerer King again. However, he had been quite surprised when she informed him she did not see the battle for the Dragon Kingdom's capital. "She claims someone noticed her spying and countered her magic. She was only able to gaze upon the scene after the battle was done."

Everyone took a deep breath at this. Thousand Mile Astrologer was the best Diviner in the nation. She had never been caught when using her divine magic to spy on someone. The fact that someone had done so and not only noticed her but blocked her magic was hard to believe.

"Which agent witnessed the girl casting the spell? Was it the lead agent?" this question was posed by the Dominic Ire Partouche, the Cardinal of Wind.

"The leader witnessed it, but he has unfortunately perished. The one who reported this is the only surviving agent from those we sent." Raymond sighed again. He had lost count of the number of headaches he'd had in the last couple of months. He was still withholding the manner of the lead agent's passing from those present. That was something he would disclose later. "The girl who claims to have summoned the angel calls herself Shiva. Initially she had two followers, a knight named Ramiel and one Niahoggr D'zar."

He let his words hang in the air for a while. Sure enough someone exploded a moment later.

"What is a Dragon Lord doing with her," the Cardinal of Light, Ivon Jasna Dracrowa asked. "Just who is this girl?"

Raymond raised his hand to calm stop him. "Calm down Ivon. We will get to that later."

"What sort of angel did this girl summon?" the Cardinal of Darkness. "Was it the highest ranked angel?"

Maximilian Oreio Lagier could not help the indignity in his voice, neither could the others help themselves when they copied him. Grand rituals were conducted by the priests of the Slane Theocracy to summon Dominion Authority. If one girl could summon it what the best priests in the nation went through a lengthy ceremony to summon in an instant what did that say about their priest? It would mean the girl was more capable than all those elites. _And extremely dangerous,_ Raymond though in a self-depreciating manner, looking at his companions. They knew nothing yet.

"No, it was Virtue of Elegance," Raymond replied. It was then that he began to spread the reports on his side of the table to everyone. "This a report I compiled with all that I heard from the agent."

Silence reined for a while as everyone skimmed the report. The first to cry out was the Pontifex Maximus.

"She proposed an alliance with Draudiron Oriculus?" he asked surprise.

Raymond could imagine the question going through his head and that of everyone seated at the table. Why would this powerful stranger want to enter an alliance with the Black Scaled Dragon Lord? Although they referred to her as such it was only because of her ability to use wild magic and that ability was too lacking to be a threat to them. Without it the queen of the Dragon Kingdom was simply a normal woman, one who loved to parade herself as a small child. Why would anyone want an alliance with her?

"What's more surprising is that claim that she liberated all the captured cities," the head of the Judiciary branch interjected. "Is there any truth to this claim?"

"Unfortunately- fortunately, depending on how you view it- there is," Raymond sighed. "Our stationary agents have corroborated this information. Many priests have left the capital city to aid the freed people."

Everyone remained silent for a while.

"Do you think the Black Scaled Dragon Lord will accept the proposal?" Berenice asked.

"I don't see why not," Ginedine replied with a 'humph'. "This Shiva was able to do what we could not."

"If we had sent the Black Scripture they would have been able to accomplish the same thing," the head of the Legislation Branch claimed indignantly.

"But we did not now did we?"

"That's because of that damnable Sorcerer King!"

"Calm down everyone," Raymond said with raised hands, bringing the attention back to him. He pointed at a set of reports that were still on his side of the table. Earlier he had only distributed half of the files on his side. "As you can see I have not given you all the information our agent sent. Who here has heard about what happened in the Beastman Kingdom?"

"Didn't a dragon burn down their city?" the head of the Executive Branch asked.

"From what I heard it was the Brightness dragon Lord who did it," the Pontifex Maximus answered.

"I heard it was Draudiron herself," Ginedine added with a scoff.

Without further delay Raymond passed on the reports. "These files detail the events that occurred after Shiva appeared in front of the Dragon Queen the day after." He would let them make their own conclusions on their own.

"This is... how can this be possible?" the first to ask this question after skimming through the file was Maximilian. "She destroyed the city?"

"The lead agent and another of our agents were petrified because they witnessed the scene?"

"An angel with six wings? What kind of creature is that?"

"Are you sure our agent did not just see an illusion?" the Pontifex Maximus asked.

"As much as I wish for that to be the case I have no one else who can corroborate what he saw," Raymond replied.

"What about the Kingdom's Adamantite group Blue Rose?" Ginedine asked. "They were present weren't they?"

The mention of that caused Raymond's face to twist as if he was having indigestion. Blue Rose was full of promising individuals, especially their leader who was a divine magic caster. But she was a heathen who prayed to another god. Also... "I don't think they will be willing to meet us after the incident with the Sunlight Scripture."

"Those damn traitors!" the head of the Judiciary Branch yelled distastefully. "For them to interfere with the Scripture's divine duty and defend those creatures."

Everyone present agreed with his sentiments. For a human to fight their own kind in defence of Demi-Humans was the gravest of sins. Such an act was unforgivable and irredeemable.

"Perhaps we can meet this Shiva and learn what she is after," Berenice suggested. Like Raymond and everyone present she believed Shiva had alternative motives with her alliance with Draudiron Oriculus.

"I doubt that," Raymond said, bringing everyone's attention back to him once more. "She has a beastman servant and took offense to when it was called a savage."

"So what do now?" Ginedine asked. "Do we just watch as she aligns herself with the Black Scale Dragon Lord for whatever reason?"

"We could make her antagonise the Sorcerer King or Jaldabaoth," Maximilian suggested. "If she's really an angel would she tolerate an undead ruling the living and a demon running amok?"

Everyone nodded in agreement. This Shiva was clearly the same as the four powerful beings that appeared a while back. If they could find a way to get her to wage war on the Sorcerer King surely that would take the strain of them. Even if she is unable to defeat the undead she would at least weaken him, making him vulnerable to the Slane Theocracy's attack.

"Ok," Raymond said in agreement with the rest. "Let us send more agents to the Dragon Kingdom. This time they will be priests and their mission will be to meet this Shiva and manipulate her into attacking the Sorcerous Kingdom."

* * *

In the royal carriage of the third princess of the Re-Estize Kingdom the young man Climb sat next to his mistress as he listened to what he could only describe as the most unbelievable tale he had ever heard. If he had heard this a year ago he would have been hard pressed to believe what he was hearing, but since then he'd had experienced events just as bizarre.

"An angel destroyed the beastman's capital city?" Renner asked in amazement. "And you didn't see what happened?"

"If I had looked I would not be talking to you now," Lakyus said. "Two of the men from the Slane Theocracy did not listen to her and they were turned into salt sculptures."

"Because they saw what happened?" Climb asked. "Was it an ability like the Giant Basilisk's [Gaze]?"

"No stupid boy," Evileye said. "You ever hear of a [Gaze] destroying a city."

"Don't be so hard on him now Evileye," Lakyus reprimanded her teammate. "Climb does not have the same knowledge of monsters that we do."

"Humph. I'm just correcting his obviously wrong assumption," Evileye retorted in a pouty voice.

"You could have said it in a nicer way," Renner reprimanded with a childish pout. "Stupid Evileye!"

"Hey-" the Blue Rose magic caster was about to respond before Lakyus popped her on the head and silenced her. The next moments she sat silently holding her head in embarrassment.

The carriage carrying the four of them had just come from the newly built orphanage and was headed for the royal palace.

"The reason we told you this is because we were hoping you could reach out to Shiva," Lakyus said, ignoring her seething partner. "If you could make her aware of our plight I'm sure she would help us when the Sorcerer King inevitably decides to invade."

"You think this person can beat that monster?" Climb asked, surprised. In his mind the only one who could beat that monster was Sebas-sama and maybe Momon but the latter was now with the Sorcerer King. Were there actually still people out there who could match the undead who cast that devastating spell?

"She reduced a city to cinders in seconds," Evileye replied. "Her strength is undeniable. She's also an angel so I have no doubt she will hate the Sorcerer King. It's not like she's alone either. She has that bodyguard Ramiel who's also an angel and that weird demon Shiro."

"An angel has a demon servant?" Princess Renner asked, her cute face reasonably confused. Even Climb found that hard to believe.

"I thought you said she was a beastman," he said.

"Shiva and Ramiel look human. It doesn't mean they are," Evileye retorted.

"Why do I get the feeling you're being meaner than usual Evileye-san," Princess Renner asked.

"Ignore her Princess," Lakyus said before the magic caster could speak. "She's just upset because Shiva didn't reveal anything about the spell she used to transport the beastman children away from the city."

"All the beast children?" Princess Renner asked in awe. "Is something like that possible?"

"Until today I didn't think it was," Evileye said seriously. "Shiva activated the spell with a ring, and then a wide circle of light appeared on the ground with strange runes inside. Truthfully, apart from the excitement from witnessing it I was a little terrified. That was magic beyond anything I have ever encountered."

Hearing this Climb retreated into own thoughts. A spell that when activated materialises a wide circle with runes. That sounded awfully familiar. "A circle? Do you mean a dome that enveloped the caster?" he asked.

"No I mean a circle," Evileye replied. "Don't you know the difference?"

"Now that you mention it Climb you bring up a valid point," Lakyus interjected, completely ignoring Evileye. "The spell activation bears a similarity to the one you described."

"So the Sorcerer King summoned those monsters with an item?" Renner asked.

"I believe so," Evileye said thoughtfully. "That was why I wanted to know more about the spell or the item. Perhaps Shiva will know the spell that was used by the Sorcerer King one the Katze Plains. I believe it's of the utmost importance that we get this person on our side."

"Hm," Princess Renner sat with her hands on her lap, as if contemplating something. "Unfortunately there is nothing I can do. Otou-sama has been ill ever since the death of Stronoff-sama and the disappearance of Babro Onii-sama. Zanack Onii-sama has taken over most of his duties so he's always busy dealing with the nobles." Suddenly she exclaimed as if an idea just hit her. "I know, why don't I send Lakyus-san as an envoy of the Kingdom."

There was a moment of silence. No one knew how to respond. Climb could guess the reason. The Adventurer's Guild forbade its members from getting involved in politics of any kind.

"Princess we both know that is not-"

The leader of blue Rose's words were cut off when the princess suddenly grasped her hands. "I will ask for Onii-sama to give you a letter with the royal seal," the princess said jovially. "I'm sure I can convince him to take time out of his busy schedule for that considering the potential benefit. Thank you so much for agreeing to this!"

Lakyus could only awkwardly nod and reluctantly agree. Even her teammate at her side, who looked like she wanted to object, did nothing. The radiant expression on Princess Renner's face was something they could not say no to. Climb was very familiar with it. Few could resist the Golden Princess.

* * *

Jircniv Rune Farlord El-Nix gripped hard at his head, relieving it of a few strands of hair.

This action had become more common these days and if not for his personal healers he would probably have gone bald by now.

Everything in his life was going wrong! The churches had antagonised him, the nobles were planning a revolt and he had lost the respect of the military. He was completely isolated. His closest confidants were the only people he could trust. These days the nobles blatantly sent assassins after him. For some reason they always managed to get around many of his guards and only came short because of Baziwood's efforts. The churches these days refused to heal anyone associated with him and, because they could not do it openly, secretly preached against the Sorcerer King and his _minion_ the Blood Emperor. The whole ordeal depressed Jircniv. If not for the threat of the monster looming he had no doubt he would have been overthrown and ferried off to the stake as a traitor to humanity.

 _Those damn bastards,_ he thought, furiously gripping at his hair again. _They don't understand at all. Those shallow-minded pieces of shit!_

Jircniv more than anyone had tried to get rid of the Ainz Ooal Gown. He had tried to conduct secret meetings with the Slane Theocracy to discuss how to handle the Sorcerer King. But everything had fallen through. The meeting and likely the plans of the Grand Alliance, that monster had seen through it all! If he had not sworn fealty at that moment there would be no Empire now. _And those sons of bitches are blaming me for submitting? I saved their damn lives! They should be thanking me!_

His depression deepened as he thought about the last couple of months. He had lost so many things. His pride, the fear of the nobles, the trust of his people and Fluder, especially Fluder. More than the fact that he swore fealty to the Sorcerer King the only reason the nobles had become so brazen was because he no longer had the great magic caster at his side. There was nothing he would love more than to wipe those nobles out but his hold on the army was not as strong as it use to be. If he did that he feared he would antagonise himself even more.

"Damn that bastard!" he cried, slamming his fist against the table.

"Sire I think you should calm down," Baziwood, his most trusted aide said while standing at his side. The two of them were in his study.

At his bodyguard's words he visibly calmed down, though inside his feelings were still as messy as before. "How can I relax when that monster is taking everything from me?" He had bled and sweated to make the Empire what it was today. Then Ainz Ooal Gown showed up and undid everything he had worked so hard to achieve. These days more than anything Jircniv thought about how future generations would see him. With all that happened in this year he harboured no illusions about being remembered in a positive light.

"This message presents an opportunity to free ourselves of that undead's shackes," Baziwood responded, pointing at the letter Jircniv read before his rant.

The letter was from Nimble Arc Dale Anoch who like Baziwood was one of the Empires Four Knights- Two Knights now since Immovable Rock was dead and Heavy Explosions had gone missing. The letter had been written in a newly developed code only he and the two understood. It detailed the events in the Dragon Kingdom just over a week ago. The day the beastmen tried to take the city Nimble had [Message]d to tell him about how the invasion was foiled. In his excitement Jircniv had ordered him to stay in the Dragon Kingdom and try to get in contact with the person responsible but now Jircniv wondered if he had been too hasty.

"Even if this person who destroyed the Beastman Capital is capable of defeating the Sorcerer King what of it?" he asked with a bitter smile. "Unlike the rest of the surrounding nations we know the strength of the Sorcerous Kingdom. One person of that level won't be near enough."

Most countries thought that they only needed to find a way to defeat the Sorcerer King and that would be the end of it. Of course to do that they would have to get past the fireball chucking Elder Lichs, the army smashing Death Knights and the city devouring Soul Eaters. Most of them thought that apart from Ainz Ooal Gown himself that was the extent of the Sorcerous Kingdom's might. They did not know. The army he displayed, that mighty force of undead in which every single creature could crush a nation was in the eyes of the Sorcerer King simply made up of foot soldiers. They had not seen the creatures in that throne room. They were unaware of the Dark Elf twins, the pale girl, the winged woman, the insect creature and the monster Demiurge. If they had known they would be rushing to kneel before the Undead King and beg him to spare them.

However, as he contemplated that his thoughts suddenly took a different turn. _Sure that monster's aides are strong but they can't be all that loyal to him. With his tyrannical style of ruling there must be a few among his peerage who believe they should rule._ With humans it was different but monster philosophy was _might makes right_. Those with strength close the Sorcerer King would clearly be unsatisfied with having to serve him and would be looking for an opportunity to stage a coup. _If we can get this Shiva to battle the Sorcerer King perhaps they will rebel at that moment. If we're lucky they will destroy each other._ That was Jircniv's preferred outcome. If even one of those monsters was left alive the Empire would still be in danger.

Jircniv clapped his hand. A moment later the door to his study opened and an old mage with a dignified bearing walked in. He was Fluder's former apprentice and one of the few people Jircniv could trust. He had also been present that day in the throne room of Nazarick so he understood the strength of the Sorcerous Kingdom.

"What can I do for Your Majesty?"

"I wish to send a message to Nimble."

* * *

In E-Rantel Ainz Ooal Gown, the Sorcerer King, the Absolute Ruler of Nazarick and the last Supreme Being sat upon his throne as one of his most trusted subordinates relayed the information he had received from one of his sources.

 _Shiva,_ he thought with a skeletal hand stroking his bony cheek. Memories of a white haired angel flashed in his mind. She had been one of the more prominent members of the guild Seraphim, said to be extremely close to their leader. _Sephirah._ That name was legendary among Players in Yggdrasil. Someone of unparalleled strength who even Touch Me could not beat. If Shiva was in this world too there was chance that person was here as well.

 _Could they be the ones responsible for Shaltear's brainwashing?_ The hand that rested on the arm of the throne clenched tightly, making loud gnashing sounds. This caused his already attentive subordinates to become even more so.

"Ainz-sama, is the something wrong?" came the voice the beautiful Guardian Overseer Albedo.

But Ainz was deep in his thoughts.

 _Seraphim has a lot of reason to antagonise us,_ he reasoned. Between Peroroncino's insults and their failed retaliation there was more than enough enmity for them to strike at Ainz and all of Nazarick. Anger rose inside him only to be suppressed. The action repeated itself as he delved deeper into his thoughts. _If I get Shalltear to meet Shiva will she remember something?_ There was a chance that it was not them but if it was...

 _I will destroy them. I will kill them all and everyone related to them._ To him it did not matter if the perpetrator was man or god. Whoever brainwashed Shalltear would pay for crossing him. _No matter who they are I will annihilate them. In the future all anyone will remember of them was that they angered Ainz Ooal Gown and paid the price._

After those comforting deliberations he came back to the present and looked at his Guardians. These were his children. He would not tolerate anyone causing them harm.

"We go on as before," he declared. "However, some of you will be in pairs. Shalltear, you will assist Cocytus with his duties. Aura and Mare will obviously be together. Albedo will obviously be with me." As he said the last words he felt a headache coming. Hearing those words Albedo was doing her best, or pretending to hide a victorious smile while Shalltear wore a deep frown. Watching the two Ainz surmised it was the latter. He did not have time for such matters now. "Sebas, most of your time is spent in Nazarick so you're fine just as you are. As for Demiurge, since your duties takes you the furthest you will act as bait."

The demon bowed humbly. "Understood."

There was no argument. Ainz' word was absolute. Whatever he said was law, even if uttered on a whim. The denizens of Nazarick could only obey. They lived to serve the Supreme Beings. Dying for the course of their master was an great honour to them.

Of course that was not Ainz' intention. "Although you are bait I will not allow them to get close to you. I am adding a hundred Hanzos to your see to you safety." He then looked away from Demiurge to the rest of the Guardians. "All of you will have extra personnel added to your security detail. I want you all to be prepared, if the enemy appears we will all rush to Demiurge's side and destroy them."

"Hai!" numerous voices echoed in throne room.

"Now," the red orbs in his eyes seem to brighten at that moment. "Let us prepare a memorable welcoming for our opponents.

-END-

 _Heteromophic Races_

Sephirah: The Golden Berserker

Racial: Angel ?

Power ?

Seraph ?

Job Level: Brawler ?

Barbarian ?

Berserker?

Armoured Berserker?

Juggernaut?

Racial Level: ?, Job Level: ?, Total level: 100

 _Personal Character_

[Also known as Sephirah Optimus Maximus. The legendary leader of Seraphim, the first World Champion, who boasts a perfect arena record. Because of her charismatic nature and her battle prowess she was referred to as a flower at socials and a beast in combat. Her brutal, uncontrolled yet refined and efficient fighting style never failed to bring down a foe. Her reputation as being the strongest in Yggdrasil was earned over the 'corpses' of her opponents. In the game few people know that Sephirah and Shiva are sisters. Outside the game she is married with twin sons.]

* * *

 _It's a week later than I stated so I have to apologise. The earlier draft felt like three thousand words of information dumping._

 _If this were a light novel this is where volume one ends. You can think of the next chapter as the beginning of the second volume. So until then, hope you enjoy yourselves._


End file.
